Breakdown of Il faut enregistrer le brouillon.
il
it (impersonal subject)
falloir
to be necessary / must (impersonal)
le brouillon
the draft
enregistrer
to save
Questions & Answers about Il faut enregistrer le brouillon.
Why does the French sentence start with Il ("He") if the translation says "You must"?
In this sentence, Il faut is a fixed, impersonal expression that literally means "It is necessary." The Il here acts like the "It" in "It is raining"—it doesn't refer to a specific person. English usually translates this general rule as "You must" or "One must."
Why is enregistrer left in its infinitive (dictionary) form here?
Whenever you use il faut to say something must be done, the action verb immediately following it stays in the infinitive. Since we are saying "It is necessary to save," enregistrer is not conjugated.
Doesn't enregistrer mean "to register" or "to record"?
It can mean both of those! However, in the everyday context of computers, phones, and technology, enregistrer is the standard way to say "to save" a file or a document.
How does brouillon relate to the lesson's theme of writing (écrire)?
Un brouillon translates to a "rough draft" or "scratchpad." When you write (écrire) an email or an essay but aren't ready to send or finish it yet, the work-in-progress version is your brouillon.
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