Learn French: Il faut suivre ce panneau. - You must follow this sign.

Il faut suivre ce panneau.

You must follow this sign.

Breakdown of Il faut suivre ce panneau.

this (before a noun)

it (impersonal subject)

falloir

to be necessary / must (impersonal)

suivre

to follow

Questions & Answers about Il faut suivre ce panneau.

Why does Il faut translate to 'You must' when il usually means 'he'?

Il faut is a special, fixed phrase that literally means 'it is necessary'. The il doesn't mean 'he' here; it is impersonal, just like the 'it' in the English phrase 'it is raining'. Because it doesn't specify exactly who needs to do the action, we often translate it as a general 'you must' or 'we must'.

Why is the verb suivre not conjugated in this sentence?

The rule for expressing obligation with il faut is to follow it directly with an infinitive (the dictionary form of a verb). Here, we simply take il faut and add the infinitive suivre (to follow) to mean 'it is necessary to follow'.

Why do we use ce here instead of le?

Ce is a demonstrative adjective that means 'this' or 'that' for masculine nouns. If we used le panneau, it would just mean 'the sign'. By using ce panneau, you are specifically pointing out 'this sign' right in front of you.

How can I tell that panneau is a masculine word?

A very helpful trick for French learners is that nouns ending in -eau (like panneau, château, or bateau) are almost always masculine. Because it is masculine, we use ce for 'this' instead of the feminine cette.