Faillir - To almost do something - Lawless French Verb


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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 partie.		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.

Par exemple…

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.