Necessary French Phrases
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The impersonal French verb falloir literally means “to be necessary” or “to need” and is used in many idiomatic expressions. Learn how to say far from it, that’s more than we need, it takes all kinds, and more with this list of expressions with falloir.
Falloir translations
- to be necessary
- to need
- to have to
- to take (money, time, resources)
Falloir expressions
| Avec ça, vous faut-il autre chose ? | Anything else? Do you need anything else? | ||
| comme il faut | properly, respectably | ||
| falloir à quelqu’un : il me / te / lui faut (stressed pronoun) | I / You / She need(s) | ||
| Faudrait pas qu’il + subjunctive | (informal) | He’d better not … | |
| Faudrait voir à faire/ne pas faire … | (informal) | You’d better make sure you do/don’t … | |
| Faudrait voir à ne pas nous ennuyer ! | (informal) | You’d better make sure you don’t cause us any trouble! | |
| Faudrait voir à voir ! | (informal) | Come on!, Come off it! | |
| Faut (pas) être gonflé ! | (informal) | It takes some nerve! | |
| Faut-il donc être bête ! | Some people are really stupid! | ||
| Faut-il qu’il soit bête ! | He must be really stupid! | ||
| Faut dire qu’il est culotté | (informal) | You’ve got to/must admit he’s got a nerve | |
| Faut voir comment ! | (informal) | You should see what a job he’s made of it! | |
| Il a bien fallu ! | I/We had to! | ||
| Il aurait fallu + infinitive | I/We/You should have … | ||
| Il faudra au moins ça | We want/need at least that much | ||
| Il faudra bien que + subjunctive | You’ll have to ___ some time, one day | ||
| Il faudrait avoir plus de temps | I/We need more time | ||
| il fallait être | you/one/they must have been | ||
| Il fallait me le dire | You should have told me | ||
| Il faut bien ça | We definitely want/need that much | ||
| Il faut bien vivre/manger | You have to live/eat | ||
| Il faut de tout pour faire un monde | It takes all kinds | ||
| Il faut du temps/de l’argent pour faire cela | it takes time/money to do that, you need time/money to do that | ||
| Il faut entendre ce qu’on dit sur … | You should hear the kind of things they say about … | ||
| il faut être | you/one/they must be | ||
| il faut le comprendre | that’s understandable | ||
| Il faut le faire | We/You have to do it, It has to be done | ||
| Il faut le voir pour le croire | It has to be seen to be believed | ||
| Il faut m’excuser, je ne savais pas | You’ll have to excuse me, I didn’t know | ||
| Il faut voir comment tu t’y prends, aussi ! | Look at how you’re going about it though! | ||
| Il faut voir comment il … ! | You should see the way he …! | ||
| Il faut vous dire que … | I must/have to tell you that … | ||
| Il lui faut quelqu’un pour + infinitive | He needs somebody to … | ||
| Il m’a fallu obéir | I had to do as I was told | ||
| Il me faudrait …, s’il vous plaît | I’d like …, please | ||
| Il me le faut absolument/Ã tout prix | I absolutely must have it, I’ve absolutely got to have it | ||
| Il n’en faut pas beaucoup pour que quelqu’un + subjunctive | It doesn’t take much to make someone do something | ||
| Il ne fallait pas ! | (gift) | You shouldn’t have! | |
| Il ne fallait pas faire ça, c’est tout | You shouldn’t have done it and that’s all there is to it | ||
| Il ne faut pas être intelligent pour dire ça | That’s a pretty stupid thing to say | ||
| Il ne me faut pas plus de … | I don’t need more than, it won’t take me more than … | ||
| Il va falloir le faire | We’ll/You’ll have to do it, It’ll have to be done | ||
| Il vous le faut pour quand ? | When do you need it for? | ||
| Il vous en faut combien ? | How much/many do you need? | ||
| Quand faut y aller faut y aller ! | (informal) | A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do! | |
| Que faut-il leur dire ? | What should I/we tell them? | ||
| Que vous fallait-il faire ? | (formal) | What did you have to do? | |
| s’il le faut | if necessary, if need be, if I must | ||
| Son travail est fait faut voir (comme) ! | (informal) | You should see what a job he’s made of it! | |
| ce qu’il faut | what is needed/necessary | ||
| avoir ce qu’il faut | (informal) | to have what it takes | |
| Ce qu’il faut entendre ! | The things you hear! | ||
| C’est juste ce qu’il faut | That’s exactly what we want/need, That’s just the right amount | ||
| C’est plus qu’il n’en faut | That’s more than we need | ||
| faire ce qu’il fallait pour + infinitive | to do just what’s necessary, to do the right thing in order to … | ||
| Il faut ce qu’il faut | (informal) | You’ve got to do things properly | |
| Voilà ce qu’il lui faut ! | That’s what he needs! | ||
| falloir que + subjunctive | (fatalism) | ___ would have to ___ | |
| Il fallait bien que ça arrive | Of course, that would happen; That was bound to happen | ||
| s’en falloir de | to be missing/short by | ||
| Il s’en faut (de beaucoup) ! | Far from it! | ||
| Il s’en faut de beaucoup qu’il soit heureux. | He is far from happy, he is by no means happy | ||
| Il ne s’en fallait que de 50 centimes. | He was only short by 50 cents. | ||
| Je n’ai pas perdu, mais il s’en est fallu de peu. | I very nearly lost. (I didn’t lose, but it was a close call.) | ||
| Tu as raté son appel, il s’en est fallu de 10 minutes. | You missed his call by 10 minutes. | ||
| peu s’en faut | as good as, nearly, just about | ||
| Ça a coûté 100 € ou peu s’en faut | It cost nearly €100 | ||
| Il est prêt, ou peu s’en faut | He’s as good as ready, He’s just about ready | ||
| loin s’en faut ! | far from it! | ||
| Peu s’en est fallu (pour) qu’il + subjunctive | He almost/very nearly … | ||
| tant s’en faut ! | far from it! | ||
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