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Il faut dormir assez pour être en bonne santé.

Il faut dormir assez pour être en bonne santé.
One must sleep enough to be in good health.
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Questions & Answers about Il faut dormir assez pour être en bonne santé.

What does il faut literally mean, and how is it usually translated?

Il faut literally means it is necessary or it is needed.

However, in natural English it’s often translated as:

  • you have to / you must
  • one has to
  • we need to

So Il faut dormir assez can be understood as:

  • You have to sleep enough
  • One must sleep enough
  • We need to sleep enough

The pronoun il here is impersonal (like it in it is raining) and doesn’t refer to a real person.

Why is it il faut and not something like je dois or on doit?

Il faut expresses a general rule or necessity, not tied to any specific person.

  • Il faut dormir assez = In general, people should sleep enough.
  • Je dois dormir assez = I personally have to sleep enough.
  • On doit dormir assez = We/people have to sleep enough (more personal, more like spoken English we/you).

So:

  • Use il faut for impersonal, general statements.
  • Use je dois / tu dois / nous devons, etc. when you want to talk about a specific subject who must do something.
Why is dormir in the infinitive after il faut?

The structure il faut + infinitive is very common and means it is necessary to do X.

  • Il faut dormir = It is necessary to sleep.
  • Il faut étudier = It is necessary to study.
  • Il faut manger = It is necessary to eat.

The infinitive (here dormir) is used because il faut is impersonal; it doesn’t say who must do the action, just that the action is necessary in general.

If you want to specify who, you change the structure to il faut que + subjunctive:

  • Il faut que tu dormes assez = You must sleep enough.
  • Il faut que nous dormions assez = We must sleep enough.
What exactly does assez mean here, and where should it go in the sentence?

In this sentence, assez means enough.

  • dormir assez = to sleep enough

Position:

  • With a verb, assez normally comes after the verb:
    • dormir assez (not assez dormir)
    • manger assez (to eat enough)
    • travailler assez (to work enough)

So:

  • Il faut dormir assez is correct.
  • Il faut assez dormir is not natural in this sense of enough.

Note that assez can also mean rather / quite in other contexts, especially before an adjective or adverb:

  • assez bon = rather good
  • assez vite = quite fast
Could we say something like Il faut assez dormir or Il faut assez de sommeil instead? Are they correct?

  • Il faut assez dormir is grammatically possible but sounds unusual / awkward in modern French for the idea of to sleep enough. Native speakers would normally say Il faut dormir assez or better:

    • Il faut dormir suffisamment.

  • Il faut assez de sommeil is also possible, but it sounds more like:

    • Enough sleep is necessary.

    More natural versions with sommeil:

  • Il faut avoir assez de sommeil pour être en bonne santé.
  • On a besoin de suffisamment de sommeil pour être en bonne santé.

For a learner, the simplest and most idiomatic pattern to remember here is:

  • Il faut dormir assez / Il faut dormir suffisamment.
What does pour + infinitive express in pour être en bonne santé?

Pour + infinitive is very common and usually expresses:

  • purpose / goal = in order to / to

So:

  • pour être en bonne santé = in order to be healthy / to be healthy

Other examples:

  • Il faut étudier pour réussir. = You have to study in order to succeed.
  • Je travaille pour gagner de l’argent. = I work to earn money.

If the subject changes, you usually switch to pour que + subjunctive:

  • Je dors assez pour être en bonne santé.
    (same subject: I sleep / I am healthy)

  • Je dors assez pour que tu sois en bonne santé.
    (different subjects: I sleep / you are healthy)
    Here sois is the subjunctive of être.

What does the expression être en bonne santé literally mean, and why is bonne feminine?

Literally:

  • être en bonne santé = to be in good health

Details:

  • santé (health) is a feminine noun, so the adjective bon must agree and becomes bonne (feminine form).
  • en is a preposition often used in set expressions like:
    • en bonne santé (in good health)
    • en forme (in shape)
    • en retard (late)
    • en avance (early)

So the structure is:

  • être (to be) + en (in) + bonne (feminine adj.) + santé (feminine noun)

Meaning: to be healthy.

Are there other common ways to say to be healthy in French besides être en bonne santé?

Yes, some common alternatives:

  • être en forme
    Literally to be in shape, often used for physical fitness or feeling well:

    • Je suis en forme aujourd’hui. = I feel great today / I’m in good shape today.

  • être en pleine forme
    Stronger: to be in top form, excellent shape/health.

  • être sain / saine
    More about being healthy in a more general or sometimes moral / hygienic sense:

    • un esprit sain dans un corps sain = a healthy mind in a healthy body.

For a simple to be healthy, être en bonne santé is the safest and most neutral expression.

Why isn’t something like être sain used instead of être en bonne santé here?

Sain / saine does exist, but:

  • It often describes things like:
    • une alimentation saine (a healthy diet)
    • un environnement sain (a healthy environment)
    • un esprit sain (a healthy mind)

When talking about a person’s overall health, être en bonne santé is much more common and idiomatic than être sain.

So:

  • Il faut dormir assez pour être en bonne santé.
    sounds natural and common.

  • Il faut dormir assez pour être sain.
    is understandable, but unusual in everyday French.

Is the word order in the whole sentence fixed, or can we move assez or pour être en bonne santé around?

Word order here is quite fixed for natural French.

Most natural:

  • Il faut dormir assez pour être en bonne santé.

Less natural or wrong versions:

  • Il faut assez dormir pour être en bonne santé.
    (sounds awkward/unusual)
  • Il faut dormir pour être en bonne santé assez.
    (ungrammatical in standard French)

You can, however, change other elements a bit:

  • Pour être en bonne santé, il faut dormir assez.
    (Fronting the purpose clause; very natural.)

So:

  • Keep dormir assez together.
  • pour être en bonne santé can go at the end or at the beginning of the sentence.
How would this sentence change in different tenses (past, future, etc.)?

The structure il faut + infinitive stays, but faut changes tense:

  • Present:
    Il faut dormir assez pour être en bonne santé.
    You must sleep enough (in general / now).

  • Imperfect (past description):
    Il fallait dormir assez pour être en bonne santé.
    It was necessary to sleep enough (back then / in those days).

  • Future:
    Il faudra dormir assez pour être en bonne santé.
    It will be necessary to sleep enough.

  • Past (completed necessity):
    Il a fallu dormir assez pour être en bonne santé.
    It was necessary to sleep enough (in a specific past situation).

The rest of the sentence (dormir assez pour être en bonne santé) stays the same.

Is this sentence formal, neutral, or informal? How might people say this in everyday spoken French?

Il faut dormir assez pour être en bonne santé is neutral and perfectly fine in both spoken and written French.

In casual speech, you might also hear:

  • Faut dormir assez pour être en bonne santé.
    (Dropping the il is very common in conversation.)

Or with a more personal subject:

  • Tu dois dormir assez pour être en bonne santé.
    (You have to sleep enough to be healthy.)
  • On doit dormir assez pour être en bonne santé.
    (We/people have to sleep enough to be healthy.)

But the original sentence is already very natural and standard.