percyunshelley | French - Learn French in a friendly community! | Page 1

balmy heathBOT Mar 4, 2024, 4:35 PM

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empty citrus Mar 4, 2024, 4:35 PM

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il faut. it must be that

balmy heathBOT Mar 4, 2024, 4:36 PM

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Please be patient

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empty citrus Mar 4, 2024, 4:36 PM

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empty citrus il faut. it must be that

or one must

vital heath Mar 4, 2024, 4:36 PM

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you can't

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It's an impersonal verb

empty citrus Mar 4, 2024, 4:37 PM

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its kinda like il pleut, we cant rain so we cant nous pleurons

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or vous negiez

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y'all snow

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il faut works in a way where it describes a situation or a rule

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il faut que je fais mes devoirs

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il faut faire leur devoirs

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boo subjective

unborn hare Mar 4, 2024, 4:38 PM

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subjunctive*

empty citrus Mar 4, 2024, 4:38 PM

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je m'en fou

vital heath Mar 4, 2024, 4:38 PM

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empty citrus or vous negiez

neige*
« vous nagiez » exists (you were swimming)

restive dove Mar 4, 2024, 4:38 PM

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so there’s a category of verbs like falloir that can only have one subject?

unborn hare Mar 4, 2024, 4:38 PM

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Falloir que has to be followed by the subjunctive

vital heath Mar 4, 2024, 4:39 PM

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separate « neiger », the impersonal verb meaning 'to snow', and « nager », the regular verb meaning 'to swim'

unborn hare Mar 4, 2024, 4:39 PM

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You could say « il me faut faire mes devoirs » but it's rather blob_gentilhomme

vital heath Mar 4, 2024, 4:39 PM

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empty citrus je m'en fou

it's mandatory

vital heath Mar 4, 2024, 4:40 PM

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restive dove so there’s a category of verbs like falloir that can only have one subject?

Yes, they're called impersonals so verbs like « neiger (to snow), pleuvoir (to rain), etc »

restive dove Mar 4, 2024, 4:40 PM

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unborn hare You could say « il me faut faire mes devoirs » but it's rather <:blob_gentilhomm...

what would that be? “it’s necessary for me”?

unborn hare Mar 4, 2024, 4:40 PM

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that's a way to think of it

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i see andy typing so he'll surely express things more succinctly

restive dove Mar 4, 2024, 4:40 PM

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so it’s allowed but unusual to say?

elfin spire Mar 4, 2024, 4:40 PM

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the verb falloir is both impersonal (used with "il") and defective (does not have all conjugations - in this case it only exists in 3rd person singular)

vital heath Mar 4, 2024, 4:41 PM

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do note that some verbs can be both impersonal and not depending on the context, like « arriver »
J'arrive au marché -> regular
Qu'est-ce qu'il arrive ? -> impersonal

restive dove Mar 4, 2024, 4:41 PM

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are there regular verbs that are defective?

vital heath Mar 4, 2024, 4:41 PM

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restive dove what would that be? “it’s necessary for me”?

yes

elfin spire Mar 4, 2024, 4:41 PM

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restive dove are there regular verbs that are defective?

Yes, but they're not very common
Verbs like choir and gésir

vital heath Mar 4, 2024, 4:42 PM

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Il faut que je fasse mes devoirs
(It's necessary that I do my homework/I have to do my homework)
Il me faut faire mes devoirs
(It's necessary for me to do my homework)
EDIT: these are really literal, they mean the same thing

elfin spire Mar 4, 2024, 4:42 PM

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oh, just reread
no, there aren't any regularly-conjugated verbs that are defective

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regular verbs exist in all conjugations by default because they just follow the standard conjugation paradigm

restive dove Mar 4, 2024, 4:43 PM

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regular as in not impersonal

elfin spire Mar 4, 2024, 4:43 PM

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oh

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then the verbs that I quoted

restive dove Mar 4, 2024, 4:43 PM

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i see, thanks

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so they can be used with any subject but not imparfait(? guessing from wordreference)

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choir at least

vital heath Mar 4, 2024, 4:44 PM

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well any subject but not any tense

#percyunshelley