No infinitive?

Question

Pour etre riche, ____ beaucoup d'argent.  I put "il faut avoir" and it was wrong, "il faut" being correct.  Do we not use the infinitive here?  It doesn't seem right in either language.

Accepted Answer

Bonjour Mike,
Il faut beaucoup d'argent = one needs lots of money
 -> to need [something] = il faut + noun
Il faut avoir beaucoup d'argent = one needs to / must have a lot of money
 -> to need + [to do sth] / must [do sth] = il faut + [infinitive]
 
I hope this is helpful.
Bonne journée !

Answer

Hi Mike,I understand why you are expecting to use avoir (to have).The point to bear in mind, however, is that of "obligation" To be rich one needs lots of money.You would need to write "Pour être riche, Il ME faut beaucoup d'argent"(In order to be rich, I need lots of money) This is the obligation.Hope this helps.Jim