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The almost French verb
I love French words that don’t have straightforward English translations, and the verb faillir is one of the best. This regular -ir verb is most commonly used in the passé composé.*
Faillir + infinitive
Faillir has no direct verbal English equivalent when used as a semi-auxiliary verb; English needs an adverb or a short phrase to capture the meaning:
- to all but do
- to almost do
- to just about do
- to narrowly miss doing
- to nearly do
- to practically do
Par exemple…
| J’ai failli pleurer quand je suis parti. | I almost cried when I left. | |
| Elle a failli perdre son boulot. | She nearly lost her job. | |
| Vous avez failli renverser deux piétons ! | You narrowly missed running over two pedestrians! |
Synonym: manquer à
Faillir à
When followed by a noun, faillir à is a formal way of talking about a failure.
| J’ai failli à ma promesse. | I failed to keep my promise. | |
| Tu as failli à ta tâche. | You failed in your task. |
Expressions with faillir
- faillir à sa parole – to break one’s word
- faillir à la tradition – to break with tradition
- ne pas faillir à sa parole – to keep, true to one’s word
- ne pas faillir à sa réputation – to live up to one’s reputation
- ne pas faillir à la tradition – to keep to tradition
- résister jusqu’au bout sans faillir – to resist unflinchingly to the end
archaic expressions - le cœur me faillit – my heart skipped a bit
- le courage me faillit – my courage failed me
* Faillir has regular conjugations in all tenses and moods, but the only ones you’re likely to encounter are past tenses: passé composé, passé simple, and plus-que-parfait.
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Merci, Laura. Ce n’était pas un verbe dont je le pensais. Comme trop souvent, il me semble qu’il a beaucoup des complexités.