Impersonal Verbs

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Verbes impersonnels

Most verbs are personal: they must be conjugated for different grammatical persons, such as aller (to go): je vais (I go), tu vas (you go), etc. But some verbs are used impersonally, meaning they have only one conjugation, the third person singular. This is usually the impersonal subject pronoun il, meaning "it," but may also be an interrogative pronoun or indefinite demonstrative pronoun.

 Most impersonal verbs also have personal meanings, which may or may not be related to the impersonal meaning.

French weather verbs

				Personal meaning
faire Il fait beau.		to be It’s nice out.		faire – to do, make
geler Il gèle.		to freeze It’s freezing.		geler – to freeze
neiger Il neige.		to snow It’s snowing.		n/a
pleuvoir Il pleut.		to rain It’s raining.		n/a

 Click any verb for the conjugation tables.

More impersonal French verbs

			Personal meaning
advenir S’il advient que …	to happen that If it happens that …		n/a
s’agir de Il s’agit de grammaire.	to be a question of, have to do with It’s a question of grammar.		agir – to act, behave
arriver Qu’est-ce qui est arrivé ?	to happen, to be possible What happened?		arriver – to arrive
il y a Il y a deux choses à faire.	there is, there are There are two things to do.		avoir – to have
convenir Il convient de le faire.	to be advisable, to be agreed It’s advisable to do it.		convenir – to suit
c’est C’est une bonne idée.	it is, that is That’s a good idea.		être – to be
se faire Il peut se faire que …	to be, to happen It may be that …		faire – to do, make
falloir Il faut que tu comprennes.	to be necessary You have to understand.		n/a
importer Il importe que tu le fasses.	to matter, to be important It’s important that you do it.		importer – to import
manquer Il manque un bouton à cette chemise.	to be missing This shirt is missing a button.		manquer – to miss
paraître Il paraît que tu aies raison.	to appear, seem It appears that you are right.		paraître – to appear
se passer Qu’est-ce qui se passe ?	to happen What’s happening?		passer – to pass, to spend time
se pouvoir Il se peut que tu aies raison.	to be possible You might be right.		pouvoir – can, to be able to
rester Il me reste peu de temps.	to have left I have little time left.		rester – to stay, remain
sembler Il semble que tu aies raison.	to seem It seems that you are right.		sembler – to seem
suffire Ça suffit !	to suffice, to be enough That’s enough!		suffire – to suffice
tenir à Ça ne tient pas qu’à toi.	to depend on, to be up to It doesn’t depend on you alone.		tenir – to hold, keep
se trouver Il se trouve que tu as raison.	to be, to happen to be You happen to be right.		trouver – to find
valoir le coup Il vaut le coup que tu le lises.	to be worth it It’s worth reading.		valoir – to be worth
valoir mieux Il vaut mieux que tu partes.	to be better It’s better that you leave.
venir Il vient un moment quand…	to come There comes a time when…		venir – to come

 Impersonal imperatives

As a rule, impersonal verbs don’t have imperative forms. However, you can still give commands by using the third person imperative.

 Related lessons

• Impersonal expressions
• Indefinite demonstrative pronouns
• Interrogative pronouns
• Subject pronouns
• Introduction to verbs

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