Français — Impersonal constructions
In these constructions the subject il does not refer to a person or thing — it is a purely grammatical placeholder. French uses it for weather (il pleut), assessments (il est important de partir), and set expressions (il s'agit de).
How it works
The verb stays in the third-person singular after invariable il. With il est + adjective, choose de before an infinitive and que before a clause: il est important de partir but il est important que tu partes. Il s'agit de introduces the topic (dans ce livre, il s'agit de la guerre), il reste states what is left (il reste dix minutes), and il vaut mieux gives advice (il vaut mieux attendre).
Examples
| Expression | Meaning / use |
|---|---|
| il est facile de comprendre | it is easy to understand — il est + adj + de + infinitive |
| il est vrai qu'elle a raison | it is true that she is right — il est + adj + que + clause |
| il semble / il paraît que | it seems / it appears that (reported impression) |
| il s'agit de choisir | it is a question of / the point is to choose |
| il reste deux places | there are two seats left (what remains) |
| il vaut mieux se taire | it is better to keep quiet (advice) |
| il pleut / il neige / il fait beau | it rains / it snows / the weather is nice |
Good to know
In everyday speech il est is often replaced by c'est: c'est difficile de choisir sounds more natural than il est difficile de choisir. But il s'agit de can never take a personal subject — *ce livre s'agit de la guerre is wrong; say dans ce livre, il s'agit de la guerre. Also note that il paraît que takes the indicative (il paraît qu'il est malade), whereas il semble que usually takes the subjunctive (il semble qu'il soit malade).