s'en falloir

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French

Pronunciation

Verb

s’en falloir

  1. (reflexive) to be missing
    Synonym: manquer
    Il s’en est fallu de peu. ― It was close, it was a close call.
    • 1837, Louis Viardot, L’Ingénieux Hidalgo Don Quichotte de la Manche‎fr.Wikisource, translation of El ingenioso hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, Chapter II:
      Mais à peine se vit-il en chemin qu’une pensée terrible l’assaillit, et telle, que peu s’en fallut qu’elle ne lui fît abandonner l’entreprise commencée.
      But scarcely did he see himself on the road when a terrible thought assaulted him, and such that little was missing to make him abandon the enterprise he had started.

Conjugation

This verb is defective, only conjugated in the third-person singular.

Conjugation of s'en falloir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
infinitive simple s'en falloir
compound s'en être + past participle
present participle or gerund1 simple s’en fallant
/sɑ̃ fa.lɑ̃/
compound s'en étant + past participle
past participle fallu
/fa.ly/
singular plural
first second third first second third
indicative je (j’) tu il, elle, on nous vous ils, elles
(simple
tenses) 		present — — s’en faut
/sɑ̃ fo/ 		— — —
imperfect — — s’en fallait
/sɑ̃ fa.lɛ/ 		— — —
past historic2 — — s’en fallut
/sɑ̃ fa.ly/ 		— — —
future — — s’en faudra
/sɑ̃ fo.dʁa/ 		— — —
conditional — — s’en faudrait
/sɑ̃ fo.dʁɛ/ 		— — —
(compound
tenses) 		present perfect present indicative of s'en être + past participle
pluperfect imperfect indicative of s'en être + past participle
past anterior2 past historic of s'en être + past participle
future perfect future of s'en être + past participle
conditional perfect conditional of s'en être + past participle
subjunctive que je (j’) que tu qu’il, qu’elle que nous que vous qu’ils, qu’elles
(simple
tenses) 		present — — s’en faille
/sɑ̃ faj/ 		— — —
imperfect2 — — s’en fallût
/sɑ̃ fa.ly/ 		— — —
(compound
tenses) 		past present subjunctive of s'en être + past participle
pluperfect2 imperfect subjunctive of s'en être + past participle
imperative – tu – nous vous –
simple — — — — — —
compound — simple imperative of s'en être + past participle — simple imperative of s'en être + past participle simple imperative of s'en être + past participle —
1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en.
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
  • past historic → present perfect
  • past anterior → pluperfect
  • imperfect subjunctive → present subjunctive
  • pluperfect subjunctive → past subjunctive

(Christopher Kendris , Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81).

Derived terms

Wikious
Boobota
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