Colloquial Expressions
Il faut + infinitive (it is necessary, one must)
Il faut tourner à gauche. It is necessary to turn left.
Il faut faire les devoirs. One must do homework.
Il lui faut aller à l'école. He must go to school.
Il reste (there remains)
Il reste une chambre. There is one room left.
Il n'en reste plus. There are no more left.
Il me reste trois jours. I have three days left.
Notice that il faut and il reste can both take an object pronoun to indicate
a person.
Il vaut mieux + infinitive (it is better)
Il vaut mieux prendre le bus. It is better to take the bus.
Il vaut mieux apprendre les langues que la politique. It's better to
learn languages than politics.
Il s'agit de (it's a question of, it's a matter of, it's about)
De quoi s'agit-il ? What's is about?
Il ne s'agit pas de ça ! That's not the point!
Il s'agit de ton avenir. It's a matter of your future.
Avoir beau (although, despite the fact, however much)
J'ai beau étudier cette langue, je ne la parle pas. Although
I study this language, I don't speak it.
Il a beau faire froid, nous sortirons. Although is it cold, we will
go out.
This article was used with permission from:
Indo-European Languages