Word
Il faut s'arrêter au feu.
Meaning
You must stop at the traffic light.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Breakdown of Il faut s'arrêter au feu.
à
at / to / in (general locations) / about (what one thinks about / reacts to)
il
it (impersonal subject)
falloir
to be necessary / must (impersonal)
s'arrêter
to stop
Questions & Answers about Il faut s'arrêter au feu.
Why does the translation say 'You must' if il means 'he'?
Il faut is an impersonal expression, meaning it doesn't refer to a specific person. The il is like the 'it' in 'it is raining'. It literally means 'it is necessary to' or 'one must'. Even though it translates naturally to 'you must' in English, it expresses a general rule here for anyone driving.
Why is there an s' attached to arrêter?
Since il faut is impersonal, how do we know to use s' instead of another pronoun?