faillir
French
editPronunciation
editEtymology 1
editInherited from Middle French faillir, from Old French falir, from Vulgar Latin *fallīre, from Latin fallere. See also falloir.
Verb
editfaillir
- to almost do something
- J’ai failli aller en Allemagne, mais j’ai annulé au dernier moment
- I almost went to Germany, but cancelled at the last minute
- to fail
- Tu as failli à ta mission.
- You failed your mission.
Conjugation
editThis verb has two conjugations, one is older and irregular, but is in modern usage giving way to a conjugation like that of finir. It is hardly used except in the infinitive, past historic, and the composed tenses. The third-person singular present indicative faut is also found in certain set phrases.
Conjugation of faillir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | faillir | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | faillant /fa.jɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant past participle | ||||||
| past participle | failli /fa.ji/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | faux /fo/ |
faux /fo/ |
faut /fo/ |
faillons /fa.jɔ̃/ |
faillez /fa.je/ |
faillent /faj/ |
| imperfect | faillais /fa.jɛ/ |
faillais /fa.jɛ/ |
faillait /fa.jɛ/ |
faillions /faj.jɔ̃/ |
failliez /faj.je/ |
faillaient /fa.jɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | faillis /fa.ji/ |
faillis /fa.ji/ |
faillit /fa.ji/ |
faillîmes /fa.jim/ |
faillîtes /fa.jit/ |
faillirent /fa.jiʁ/ | |
| future | faudrai or faillirai /fo.dʁe/ or /fa.ji.ʁe/ |
faudras or failliras /fo.dʁa/ or /fa.ji.ʁa/ |
faudra or faillira /fo.dʁa/ or /fa.ji.ʁa/ |
faudrons or faillirons /fo.dʁɔ̃/ or /fa.ji.ʁɔ̃/ |
faudrez or faillirez /fo.dʁe/ or /fa.ji.ʁe/ |
faudront or failliront /fo.dʁɔ̃/ or /fa.ji.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | faudrais or faillirais /fo.dʁɛ/ or /fa.ji.ʁɛ/ |
faudrais or faillirais /fo.dʁɛ/ or /fa.ji.ʁɛ/ |
faudrait or faillirait /fo.dʁɛ/ or /fa.ji.ʁɛ/ |
faudrions or faillirions /fo.dʁi.jɔ̃/ or /fa.ji.ʁjɔ̃/ |
faudriez or failliriez /fo.dʁi.je/ or /fa.ji.ʁje/ |
faudraient or failliraient /fo.dʁɛ/ or /fa.ji.ʁɛ/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
present perfect | present indicative of avoir past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect indicative of avoir past participle | ||||||
| past anterior2 | past historic of avoir past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | future of avoir past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | conditional of avoir past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | faille /faj/ |
failles /faj/ |
faille /faj/ |
faillions /faj.jɔ̃/ |
failliez /faj.je/ |
faillent /faj/ |
| imperfect2 | faillisse /fa.jis/ |
faillisses /fa.jis/ |
faillît /fa.ji/ |
faillissions /fa.ji.sjɔ̃/ |
faillissiez /fa.ji.sje/ |
faillissent /fa.jis/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | — | — | — | — | — | |
| compound | — | simple imperative of avoir past participle | — | simple imperative of avoir past participle | simple imperative of avoir past participle | — | |
| 1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en. | |||||||
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Synonyms
edit- échouer (2) (more common than faillir)
Derived terms
editDescendants
editEtymology 2
editFrom faillite.
Verb
editfaillir
- to go bankrupt
Conjugation
editThis is a regular verb of the second conjugation, like finir, choisir, and most other verbs with infinitives ending in -ir. One salient feature of this conjugation is the repeated appearance of the infix -iss-.
Conjugation of faillir (see also Appendix:French verbs)
| infinitive | simple | faillir | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| compound | avoir past participle | ||||||
| present participle or gerund1 | simple | faillissant /fa.ji.sɑ̃/ | |||||
| compound | ayant past participle | ||||||
| past participle | failli /fa.ji/ | ||||||
| singular | plural | ||||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | je (j’) | tu | il, elle, on | nous | vous | ils, elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | faillis /fa.ji/ |
faillis /fa.ji/ |
faillit /fa.ji/ |
faillissons /fa.ji.sɔ̃/ |
faillissez /fa.ji.se/ |
faillissent /fa.jis/ |
| imperfect | faillissais /fa.ji.sɛ/ |
faillissais /fa.ji.sɛ/ |
faillissait /fa.ji.sɛ/ |
faillissions /fa.ji.sjɔ̃/ |
faillissiez /fa.ji.sje/ |
faillissaient /fa.ji.sɛ/ | |
| past historic2 | faillis /fa.ji/ |
faillis /fa.ji/ |
faillit /fa.ji/ |
faillîmes /fa.jim/ |
faillîtes /fa.jit/ |
faillirent /fa.jiʁ/ | |
| future | faillirai /fa.ji.ʁe/ |
failliras /fa.ji.ʁa/ |
faillira /fa.ji.ʁa/ |
faillirons /fa.ji.ʁɔ̃/ |
faillirez /fa.ji.ʁe/ |
failliront /fa.ji.ʁɔ̃/ | |
| conditional | faillirais /fa.ji.ʁɛ/ |
faillirais /fa.ji.ʁɛ/ |
faillirait /fa.ji.ʁɛ/ |
faillirions /fa.ji.ʁjɔ̃/ |
failliriez /fa.ji.ʁje/ |
failliraient /fa.ji.ʁɛ/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
present perfect | present indicative of avoir past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect indicative of avoir past participle | ||||||
| past anterior2 | past historic of avoir past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | future of avoir past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | conditional of avoir past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que je (j’) | que tu | qu’il, qu’elle | que nous | que vous | qu’ils, qu’elles | |
| (simple tenses) |
present | faillisse /fa.jis/ |
faillisses /fa.jis/ |
faillisse /fa.jis/ |
faillissions /fa.ji.sjɔ̃/ |
faillissiez /fa.ji.sje/ |
faillissent /fa.jis/ |
| imperfect2 | faillisse /fa.jis/ |
faillisses /fa.jis/ |
faillît /fa.ji/ |
faillissions /fa.ji.sjɔ̃/ |
faillissiez /fa.ji.sje/ |
faillissent /fa.jis/ | |
| (compound tenses) |
past | present subjunctive of avoir past participle | |||||
| pluperfect2 | imperfect subjunctive of avoir past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | – | – | ||||
| simple | — | faillis /fa.ji/ |
— | faillissons /fa.ji.sɔ̃/ |
faillissez /fa.ji.se/ |
— | |
| compound | — | simple imperative of avoir past participle | — | simple imperative of avoir past participle | simple imperative of avoir past participle | — | |
| 1 The French gerund is usable only with the preposition en. | |||||||
2 In less formal writing or speech, these tenses may be found to have been replaced in the following way:
(Christopher Kendris [1995], Master the Basics: French, pp. 77, 78, 79, 81). | |||||||
Further reading
edit- “faillir”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.
Middle French
editEtymology
editFrom Old French falir, from Vulgar Latin *fallīre, from Latin fallere, present active infinitive of fallō.
Verb
editfaillir
- to fail
- c. 1369, Jean Froissart, Chroniques:
- quant les lances leur failloient, ils se prendoient aux haches
- when their lances failed them, they took up their axes
- 1595, Michel de Montaigne, Essais, book II, chapter 37:
- Ou, s’il leur plait, ils se servent encore de cet empirement, et en font leurs affaires par cet autre moyen qui ne leur peut jamais faillir
- Or, if they preferred, they still made use of this deterioration, and did their affairs by this other means which could never fail them
Descendants
editOld French
editVerb
editfaillir
- alternative infinitive of falir
Conjugation
editThis verb conjugates as a third-group verb. This verb has irregularities in its conjugation. Old French conjugation varies significantly by date and by region. The following conjugation should be treated as a guide.
Conjugation of faillir (see also Appendix:Old French verbs)
| simple | compound | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| infinitive | faillir | avoir fali, failli | |||||
| gerund | en falant, faillant | gerund of avoir past participle | |||||
| present participle | falant, faillant | ||||||
| past participle | fali, failli | ||||||
| person | singular | plural | |||||
| first | second | third | first | second | third | ||
| indicative | jo | tu | il | nos | vos | il | |
| simple tenses |
present | fail | faus | faut | falons, faillons | falez, failliez | falent, faillent |
| imperfect | faloie, faleie, failloie, failleie | faloies, faleies, failloies, failleies | faloit, faleit, failloit, failleit | faliiens, faliens, failliiens, failliens | faliiez, faliez, failliiez, failliez | faloient, faleient, failloient, failleient | |
| preterite | fali, failli | falis, faillis | fali, failli | falimes, faillimes | falistes, faillistes | falirent, faillirent | |
| future | faudrai | faudras | faudra | faudrons | faudroiz, faudreiz, faudrez | faudront | |
| conditional | faudroie, faudreie | faudroies, faudreies | faudroit, faudreit | faudriiens, faudriens | faudriiez, faudriez | faudroient, faudreient | |
| compound tenses |
present perfect | present tense of avoir past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect tense of avoir past participle | ||||||
| past anterior | preterite tense of avoir past participle | ||||||
| future perfect | future tense of avoir past participle | ||||||
| conditional perfect | conditional tense of avoir past participle | ||||||
| subjunctive | que jo | que tu | qu’il | que nos | que vos | qu’il | |
| simple tenses |
present | faille | failles | faille | failliens, faillons | failliez | faillent |
| imperfect | faillise | faillises | faillit | faillisons, faillisiens | faillisoiz, faillisez, faillisiez | faillisent | |
| compound tenses |
past | present subjunctive of avoir past participle | |||||
| pluperfect | imperfect subjunctive of avoir past participle | ||||||
| imperative | – | tu | – | nos | vos | – | |
| — | fail | — | falons, faillons | falez, failliez | — | ||
Descendants
editCategories:
- French 2-syllable words
- French terms with IPA pronunciation
- French terms inherited from Middle French
- French terms derived from Middle French
- French terms inherited from Old French
- French terms derived from Old French
- French terms inherited from Vulgar Latin
- French terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- French terms inherited from Latin
- French terms derived from Latin
- French lemmas
- French verbs
- French terms with usage examples
- French defective verbs
- French third group verbs
- French irregular verbs
- French verbs with conjugation -ir
- French second group verbs
- Middle French terms inherited from Old French
- Middle French terms derived from Old French
- Middle French terms inherited from Vulgar Latin
- Middle French terms derived from Vulgar Latin
- Middle French terms inherited from Latin
- Middle French terms derived from Latin
- Middle French lemmas
- Middle French verbs
- Middle French terms with quotations
- Old French lemmas
- Old French verbs
- Old French verbs with weak-i preterite
- Old French third group verbs
- Old French verbs ending in -ir
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