Published April 28, 2026 — This collection of lessons was created by David Issokson, a McGill graduate and French teacher since 2014. Each lesson explains common words or expressions with clear explanations and real-life examples. All of the audio was recorded by Marie Assel Cambier, a native French speaker and professional voice artist.
French impersonal expressions are phrases that use il as the grammatical subject, but il does not refer to a person or thing. Common examples include il y a (there is), il faut (it is necessary / must), il pleut (it is raining), and il est temps de partir (it is time to leave).
Some impersonal expressions are followed by de + infinitive (Il est important d’étudier – It’s important to study) while others are followed by que + conjugated verb (Il faut que tu viennes – You need to come).
Most useful French impersonal expressions for conversation
These expressions are extremely common in everyday French and are essential for talking about time, weather, necessity, opinions, and possibility.
⚠️ Necessity / obligation
il faut — it is necessary / must
il convient de — it is appropriate to
il importe de — it is important to
il est nécessaire de — it is necessary to
il est obligatoire de — it is mandatory to
📍 Existence / general statements
il y a — there is / there are
il reste — there remains / there is left
il vaut mieux — it is better to
il manque — there is lacking / is missing
il s’agit de — it is about / this concerns
il suffit de — it is enough to / simply
🕒 Time
il est une heure — it is one o’clock
il est deux heures — it is two o’clock
il est midi — it is noon
il est minuit — it is midnight
il est quelle heure ? — what time is it?
il est tard — it is late
il est tôt — it is early
il est temps de — it is time to
👉 See also: Telling time in French »
🌦️ Weather
il fait beau — the weather is nice
il fait mauvais — the weather is bad
il fait chaud — it is hot
il fait froid — it is cold
il fait du vent — it is windy
il pleut — it is raining
il neige — it is snowing
il bruine — it is drizzling
il gèle — it is freezing
il y a du brouillard — it is foggy
👉 See also: French weather vocabulary »
🎯 Possibility / probability
il est possible que — it is possible that
il se peut que — it may be that
il semble que — it seems that
il paraît que — apparently / it seems that
il est probable que — it is probable that
il est peu probable que — it is unlikely that
il arrive que — it happens that
il est impossible que — it is impossible that
⭐ Importance / judgment
il est important de — it is important to
il est utile de — it is useful to
il est bon de — it is good to
il est préférable de — it is preferable to
il est dommage que — it is a shame that
il est regrettable que — it is regrettable that
✅ Certainty / truth
il est clair que — it is clear that
il est évident que — it is obvious that
il est certain que — it is certain that
il est vrai que — it is true that
il est faux que — it is false that
il est sûr que — it is certain that
il n’est pas sûr que — it is not certain that
😮 Emotion / reaction
il est triste que — it is sad that
il est étonnant que — it is surprising that
il est surprenant que — it is surprising that
il est rare que — it is rare that
il est normal que — it is normal that
il est bizarre que — it is strange that
🗂️ Impersonal Expressions Reference Card
Save this visual list for your future reference — it’s a quick guide to the most useful French impersonal expressions and their meanings.
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