- Articles
- Subject Pronouns
- Conjugations, Negations
- Possession
- Adjectives
- Adjectives Continued
- Object Pronouns, Partitive
- Pointing to Things
- Impersonal Verbs
- Indirect Object Pronouns
- Disjunctive
- Adverbs
- Participles
- Questions
- Questions II
- Questions III
- Possessive Pronouns
- Indefinites
- Reflexive
- Past Participles
- The Past
- Commands
- Future & Conditional
- Passive
- Further Study
| Les verbes impersonnels | Impersonal verbs |
The pronoun il is used when describing the weather and for time realated expressions. Il here represents the state of things - the world or universe at that moment.
| Il pleut. | It's raining. | |
| Il neige. | It's snowing. | |
| Il fait chaud. | It is hot. | |
| Il fait froid. | It is cold. | |
| Il fait beau. | It is nice (outside). | |
| Il fait mauvais. | It is bad (outside). | |
| Il y a du vent. | It's windy. (There is wind) |
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| Il est six heures. | It is 6 o'clock. |
| Il est midi. | It is noon. |
| Il est trois heures dix. | It is three ten. |
| Il est une heure moins dix. | It is 10 till 1. |
| Il est trois heures et demi. | It is half past three. |
| Il est neuf heures moins le quart. | It is a quarter till 9. |
| Il est huit heures quarante-cinq. | It is nine fourty-five. |
| Il est tôt. | It's early. |
| Il est tard. | It is late. |
practice telling time
The verb falloir is always used with il and expresses what is needed or what must be done.
Il faut ranger la chambre.
The room must be cleaned/tidied up.
Il faut aider les pauvres.
One must help the poor.Il ne faut pas être égoïste.
One must not be selfish.
Il y a is used to express 'there is'.
Il y a un ours sur la montagne.
There is a bear on the mountain.Il y a un passage secret derrière ce mur.
There is a secret passage behind this wall.
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and ___ 'ago'.
Il y a un siècle, l'ordinateur n'existait pas.
A century ago, the computer didn't exit.