Il faut

Jane H.A2Kwiziq community member

Il faut

Why is "il lui faut de l'aide" - he / she needs some help and "il te faut de l'aide"  - you must help? I am getting very confused with this expression!

Asked 10 months ago
Jim J.C1 Kwiziq Q&A super contributor Correct answer

Bonjour Jane,

The construction is il (indirect object pronoun) faut de l'aide where "de l'" is a partitive article (some).

You are correct when you interpret "il lui faut de l'aide" as he/she needs some help, but then for the same construction you interpret "il te faut de l'aide" as "must help".

I suspect that you don't realise that "te" is an indirect pronoun in this case -- the confusion may come from the fact that "te" can be direct or indirect depending on the context. 

So "il te faut de l'aide" --> you need some help.

Bonne journée

Jim

Il faut

Why is "il lui faut de l'aide" - he / she needs some help and "il te faut de l'aide"  - you must help? I am getting very confused with this expression!

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