Breakdown of Il fallait arrêter d'enlever la rouille.
enlever
to remove / to take off
arrêter de
to stop (doing something)
il fallait
it was necessary, one had to
la rouille
the rust
Questions & Answers about Il fallait arrêter d'enlever la rouille.
Why is there a d' before enlever?
Why is Il fallait translated as "We had to" instead of "He had to"?
Il fallait is the imperfect tense of falloir (to be necessary). It is an impersonal verb, meaning the il always translates to "it", not "he" (literally: "It was necessary to..."). In English, we often translate this as "We had to" or "You had to" based on the context to make it sound more natural.
Could I use a different verb like cesser instead of arrêter here?
Why is it Il fallait (imperfect) and not Il a fallu (passé composé)?