- Forum >
- Topic: French >
- "Il faut un homme calme."
46 Comments
I understand that whilst using Falloir it must be conjugated using 3rd person, however when translating this sentence, why does it mean "we need a calm man" and not "it needs a calm man", "he needs a calm man", etc.
Please enlighten me :)
899
Could someone explain when "Il" means "We"?
It is just in the phrase "Il faut..." or is it more complicated?
No, not too complicated. Trick is to read "il faut" as a phrase instead of "il' and "faut" separately. 'il faut' means to be necessary and is impersonal - so it doesn't require a person. Read the article at the above link and that should explain it quite well :)
As I understand it the literal translation of il faut x is "x is needed", since that may not always sound very natural you can also say "we need x". In Duolingo we lack context so both translations are valid.
This article was certainly helpful. However, I still don't think I'd be able to look at this sentence and translate it correctly because there isn't enough information.
I wondered about it needs a calm man, ie. the situation calls for ...
I put "I need a calm man" and that is also correct. Couldn't tell you why, though. :-)
- 922
As the verb "falloir" means to need or to be necessary, I suggest to include the following translation as well: "It is necessary a calm man".
I translated: "A calm man is needed". Accepted.
That's what I wanted to type - it's much more closer in meaning, but I decided to follow the cues instead. So I typed "one needs a calm man."
- 840
As nadudu explained below " il faut is an entity in itself... if you then see it like this and translate it as such "il faut " could mean it is necessary... or it takes... so the sentence would then read like this:... it takes a calm man... in a more free translation it would be:... we need a calm man a As I am just a learner, this is the answer that I came up with.
- 840
see nadudu discussion comment you do not translate il faut word by word it is an entity that you learn
- 39
the phrase il fait shaude means we need hot in same meaning in my opinien the correct translation is the situation needs a calm man. you can translate it anyweays but the sense is only one.
Why is "it needs a calm man", wrong? One might turn around the translation to say, "a calm man is needed/required/lacking". There is no indication of an agency suffering this need or lack. Why, then, is "we" correct?
This sentence should be deleted and replaced. You shouldn't just use any word we learned by now to make a sentence because it may come weird. What is the logic behind this? When did someone needed a calm man?
I don't know why you get upset because of my opinion, but 'we need a calm man' is a weird sentence, built by words this course teaches.
Off topic, can anyone tell me why I am unable to fill the third slot when two are equipped and I have passed checkpoints and levels are completed? Thank you in advance.
It is unrelated, and assuming you're asking about the extra skills - you could also find the answer using google. Just so you know, the third skill is about Christmas and appears, surprisingly, in Christmas.
My question is, how are we supposed to come up with this brilliant answer?
