Les verbes impersonnels

Les verbes impersonnels/ Impersonal verbs are verbs which are only used in the il form, the third person singular.

Weather phrases

Il pleut = It is raining
Il fait chaud = It's hot
Il fait froid = It's cold
Il neige = It is snowing


Telling the time

Il est midi = It is midday
Il est minuit = It is midnight
Il est deux heures et demie = It is half past two

Other phrases with il

Il y a = there is / there are
Il faut = you must
Il vaut mieux = It is better to
Il est évident que = It is obvious that
Il reste = ... is left, remaining
Il semble que = It seems that
Il est + (adjective) clair / évident / important/ essentiel de / que = It is clear/ obvious/ important / essential to / that

They can be used in other tenses.

Il y a = There is/ are
Il y avait = There was / were
Il y aura = There will be
Il y aurait = There would be

Image by Free-Photos from Pixabay 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Les groupes de verbes en français

Image
In French, verbs are divided into 3 groups according to the ending of their infinitive. The infinitive is the form of the verb in the dictionary, without any mark of a tense. In English, the equivalent to an infinitive is when "to" is used in front of the verb. Example : to play, to go, to listen, to write Knowing which group a verb belongs to will be essential to form tenses accurately. The verbs être and avoir don't belong to a group.       1. Le 1er groupe/ the 1st group Verbs in this group end in - er (sauf aller ) and follow the pattern of the verb parler. Those verbs are regular which means that they will follow a regular pattern. Some verbs in this group have some variations: - Verbs ending in -ayer (p.ex. payer).Those verbs can follow 2 patterns : il paye and il paie - Verbs ending in -ger (p.ex. manger) Those verbs keep the vowel e after the letter g in front of the vowels a and o : il mangeait, nous mangeons. - Verbs endi...
Read more

Le verbe être au présent

Image
Le verbe être / The verb être   means to be and being ( le bien-être = well being ). It is one of the most important verbs in the French language. It is an irregular verb , which means it does not follow a regular pattern in conjugation (tense formation) You have to know it by heart in a variety of tenses.  Here is the verb être in the present tense: Je suis : I am Tu es : You are ( when talking to a friend/ someone you know well) Il est : He is Elle est : She is On est : We are (informal), one is Nous sommes : We are (formal)  Vous êtes : You are (formal or when talking to more than one friend) Ils sont : They are ( masculine plural or mixed group) Elles sont : They are (feminine plural only) Many idiomatic expressions use the verb être and it is important to know them and use them to show the range of your vocabulary. Here are 15 idiomatic expressions with être : 1. être à bout de force to be exhausted 2. être à jour to be up to date 3. être à l'aise to be at ea...
Read more

10 Top tips for success at A Level French

Image
  1. Listen to French every day, even if just for 10 minutes . In the long run this will make a big difference to your listening skills and improve your confidence. 2. Read a French news article each week . Look for French websites covering topics that interest you (sports, fashion, science, music). You will learn new vocabulary and reinforce grammar skills and key structures. 3. Attend the weekly conversation class with the French assistant if there is one in your school or speak French with the other students in your course outside lessons. It might be weird at first but it will become a habit in no time! 4. Organise your folder clearly into the different topic areas studied and have sub- sections for vocabulary and grammar. This will save you plenty of time when you do revision. 5. Be pro-active in catching up on work from any lesson which you miss. 6. Take responsibility for learning vocabulary each week (even if it is not a home learning task). 7. If you ident...
Read more