Breakdown of Il faut que nous signions la pétition pour le maire.
nous
we / us (object pronoun)
pour
for
il
it (impersonal subject)
signer
to sign
falloir
to be necessary / must (impersonal)
que
that (introducing a clause)
le maire
the mayor
la pétition
the petition
Questions & Answers about Il faut que nous signions la pétition pour le maire.
Why does signions have an 'i' in it? It looks like the imperfect tense!
It is actually the subjunctive form, required here by the expression of necessity Il faut que (we must / it is necessary that). For regular ER verbs like signer, the nous and vous forms in the present subjunctive are identical to their imperfect forms.
The English translation is 'We must sign', so why doesn't the French sentence start with Nous?
Il faut que is an impersonal expression that literally means 'It is necessary that'. While you could say Nous devons signer using the verb devoir (must), French speakers use Il faut que plus the subjunctive all the time. It is just a different structure where the 'we' (nous) becomes the subject of the second part of the sentence.
Could I say Il faut nous signer instead to avoid the subjunctive?
No, because Il faut nous signer would mean 'It is necessary to sign us' (treating nous as a direct object receiving the action). If you want to avoid the subjunctive, you could say Nous devons signer (We must sign) or you can drop the specific person entirely if the context is obvious: Il faut signer (It is necessary to sign).
What if I wanted to say 'The mayor must sign the petition'?
You would say Il faut que le maire signe la pétition. For most regular verbs like signer, the il/elle/on and singular noun forms in the subjunctive take an -e ending, which makes them look and sound exactly like the normal present tense.
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