Breakdown of Pour finir une tâche, il faut se concentrer.
pour
for
finir
to finish
il
it (impersonal subject)
falloir
to be necessary / must (impersonal)
la tâche
the task
se concentrer
to concentrate
Questions & Answers about Pour finir une tâche, il faut se concentrer.
Since this lesson is about the gérondif, why don't we use en finissant instead of pour finir?
The gérondif (en finissant) means 'while finishing' or 'by finishing'. But here, the sentence starts with 'To finish', which really means 'In order to finish'. When you want to express a goal or purpose, French uses pour followed by the infinitive (pour finir), not the gérondif.
Who is the il in il faut?
The il here doesn't refer to 'he'. Il faut is an impersonal expression that means 'it is necessary' or 'one must'. It is used for general rules or necessities, and the il acts just like the 'it' in the English phrase 'it is raining'.
Why is it se concentrer (reflexive) instead of just concentrer?
If il faut refers to people in general, why do we use se for the reflexive pronoun?
When making a general statement with il faut and a reflexive verb, you leave the reflexive pronoun in its default third-person form, which is se. It acts a bit like saying 'one must concentrate oneself' in English.
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