A Complete Guide to Understanding Impersonal Verbs in French

Impersonal verbs and expressions play a vital role in French grammar, allowing you to express general ideas and statements. These verbs, such as “il faut” (it is necessary) and “il pleut” (it is raining), rely on an impersonal subject. This means they maintain a consistent form, making them easy to use regardless of the speaker’s perspective. Understanding these constructions will enhance your ability to communicate effectively in French.

Using impersonal expressions makes your sentences sound more natural and fluent. They are essential for discussing weather, necessity, and possibilities. As you dive deeper into the world of French, mastering impersonal verbs will enrich your vocabulary and improve your conversational skills. Whether you’re describing the weather or stating requirements, knowing how to use these expressions is fundamental for your language journey.

First, impersonal verbs are unique in grammar and available at any French tense you need. They do not change based on the subject and typically use the pronoun “il,” meaning “it.” However, they can also start with a demonstrative pronoun “ce” or “ça”.

Impersonal verbs are verbs that do not have a specific subject. Instead, they are often expressed in the third person singular with “il.” This means they maintain the same form regardless of the subject. Common impersonal verbs include “faire,” “pleuvoir,” and “neiger.”

For example:

• Il fait beau (The weather is nice).
• Il pleut (It is raining).
• Il neige (It is snowing).

These verbs are commonly used for general statements or to describe weather conditions. Their fixed conjugation simplifies learning because they don’t require adjustments for different pronouns. And you can of course conjugate these verbs at any tense you like. For instance, “hier, il a fait très chaud” (yesterday, it was  very hot) or “demain, il va faire chaud” (tomorrow, it’s going to be very hot).

To help you with conjugating these verbs, you could use apps such as Bescherelle, VaTeFaireConjuguer or Le Conjugueur. These are great tools for our busy life.

The pronouns ‘ce’ and ‘ça’ play also a significant role in impersonal expressions. For instance,

• C’est bon à savoir (it’s good to know)
• C’est facile à dire (it’s easy to say)
• Ça suffit ! (it’s enough). The infinitive is “suffire” (to suffice).
• Ça s’est bien passé (it went well), with the infinitive “se passer” (to happen).

Sometimes, “c’est” can replace “il” to make the sentence more familiar. For example, we say :

• “Il est interdit de nourrir les animaux” (It’s forbidden to feed animals, more formal);
• “C’est interdit de fumer”  (It’s forbidden to smoke).

Impersonal verbs and expressions in French help communicate various ideas without specifying a subject. Here are some common usage scenarios, including expressions related to weather, necessity, and time.

In French, weather expressions often use the impersonal subject “il.” Here are some key phrases:

• Il fait chaud (It is hot)
• Il fait froid (It is cold)
• Il fait beau (It is nice out)
• Il pleut (It is raining)
• Il gèle (It is freezing)

To talk about the weather, you can also use “il y a + noun”, such as as in “Il y a du vent” (There is wind) or ““Il y a du soleil” (There is sun).

Impersonal expressions also convey necessity using “il faut” (falloir : to be necessary). This structure indicates that something must be done, as a general statement :

• Il faut travailler dur (You have to work hard)
• Il faut manger des légumes (You have to eat vegetables)

When you have a different subject in the sentence, you will need to use the French subjunctive such as “Il faut que nous fassions la vaisselle” (We have to clean the dishes).

In addition, you can use “il est nécessaire de” or “il est important de” to emphasize the importance of the action. Once again, using “il” instead of “c’est” have a more formal tone. Remember, using these structures effectively expresses what is needed in various situations.

Furthermore, time-related expressions in French often utilize “il est” and “il y a” to describe scenarios. For instance:

• Il est sept heures (It is seven o’clock)
• Elle est arrivée il y a un an (She arrived a year ago)
• Il y avait beaucoup de monde (there was a lot of people)

The structure “Il y a” is a bit tricky in French as it can mean “there is” but also “ago”.

Finally, impersonal verbes allow you to express general statements or opinions without needing a specific subject. Let’s see together additional usages for these specific verbs :