FlexiLingoIn one line
In a handful of structures,
ilrefers to nobody — it just fills the subject slot, because French cannot leave it empty.
The forms on this page
| Form | Means | Sound |
|---|---|---|
il | he — but in these structures it points at nobody | /il/ |
The table
| Use | Example | English | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|
| weather | Il fait chaud. | it's hot | /il fɛ ʃo/ |
| precipitation | Il pleut. Il neige. | it's raining · it's snowing | /il plø/ · /il nɛʒ/ |
| clock time | Il est trois heures. | it's three o'clock | /il ɛ tʁwa.z‿œʁ/ |
| existence | Il y a un livre. | there is a book | /il i a œ̃ livʁ/ |
| necessity | Il faut partir. | we have to go | /il fo paʁ.tiʁ/ |
Weather takes faire, not être
| French | Pronunciation | English |
|---|---|---|
Il fait chaud. | /il fɛ ʃo/ | it's hot |
Il fait froid. | /il fɛ fʁwa/ | it's cold |
Il fait beau. | /il fɛ bo/ | the weather's nice |
Il fait doux. | /il fɛ du/ | it's mild |
Quel temps fait-il ? | /kɛl tɑ̃ fɛ.t‿il/ | what's the weather like? |
Exceptions
| Exception | What happens |
|---|---|
Il pleut /il plø/ exists only with il /il/ | ❌ nous pleuvons /nu plø.vɔ̃/ |
Il est chaud /il ɛ ʃo/ means something else | "he/it is hot" — about an object or a person |
il y a /i.lja/ never goes plural | Il y a des livres. /il i a de livʁ/ — still il y a /i.lja/ |
il faut /il fo/ only ever takes il /il/ | it has no other person, but it does take tenses: il fallait /il fa.lɛ/ il faudra /il fo.dʁa/ il a fallu /il a fa.ly/ |
In the negative il y a /i.lja/ becomes il n'y a pas /il ni a pa/ | and then de /də/: Il n'y a pas de livre. /il nja pa də livʁ/ |
Examples
| English | French | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|
| It's hot | Il fait chaud. | /il fɛ ʃo/ |
| It's cold | Il fait froid. | /il fɛ fʁwa/ |
| It's raining | Il pleut. | /il plø/ |
| What's the weather like? | Quel temps fait-il ? | /kɛl tɑ̃ fɛ.t‿il/ |
| There are trees in the park | Il y a des arbres au parc. | /i.lja de.zaʁbʁ o paʁk/ |
| There's no book | Il n'y a pas de livre. | /il nja pa də livʁ/ |
| It's three o'clock | Il est trois heures. | /il ɛ tʁwa.z‿œʁ/ |
| We have to go | Il faut partir. | /il fo paʁ.tiʁ/ |
Common mistakes
| ❌ | ✅ | Why |
|---|---|---|
Il est chaud. (about the weather) | Il fait chaud. | Weather takes faire |
Nous pleuvons. | Il pleut. | Only with il — as "we rain" is not English either |
Ils y ont des livres. | Il y a des livres. | il y a never goes plural |
Il n'y a pas un livre. | Il n'y a pas de livre. | The article drops in the negative |
Elle fait chaud. | Il fait chaud. | That il has no gender — it is nobody |
And English does exactly the same thing
"it's raining" — what is "it"?
English needs a dummy subject too, and uses the same trick.
| Pronunciation | ||
|---|---|---|
| English | It rains. — that "it" is not anything | |
| French | Il pleut. — an equally meaningless il | /il plø/ · /il/ |
So this construction is already yours. "It's raining", "it's three o'clock", "it's hot" — English fills the empty subject slot exactly as French does, and "we rain" is as impossible in English as nous pleuvons
Which means the one thing to actually learn here is the verb. English says weather is; French says weather does:
| English | French | Literally | Pronunciation |
|---|---|---|---|
| it is hot | Il fait chaud. | it makes hot | /il fɛ ʃo/ |
| it is cold | Il fait froid. | it makes cold | /il fɛ fʁwa/ |
| it is three o'clock | Il est trois heures. | here French really does use être | /il ɛ tʁwa.z‿œʁ/ |
Il est chaud is a real sentence — it just means "he is hot" or "it is hot to the touch". That is why the mistake is worth avoiding: it does not produce nonsense, it produces something else.
One place French is impersonal and English is not: Il faut partir — literally "it is necessary to leave", where English prefers a real subject, "we have to go". il faut has no other form at all, so build the sentence around it rather than looking for a subject.