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The Language Nook – Le coin langues

Il faut, il vaut… falloir or valoir?

by Yolaine Bodin | 18 Nov 2017 | French Language

Falloir and valoir are two distinct French verbs that are sometimes confused. At this point, I would like to reassure all learners of French as a foreign language and say that even French natives may mix them up in some instances! I gather the confusion comes from the proximity of the sounds f and v .

What do these two verbs mean and how can we use them correctly?

Falloir conveys an obligation, need or necessity . It is an impersonal verb . This means that it can only be conjugated with the pronoun “ il ” and in that case “il” does not represent anyone or anything in particular: it is the same as in “il pleut” (it’s raining).

Falloir can be followed:

→ by a noun (with a determiner):

• Il faut de la farine pour faire des crêpes. (You need flour to make pancakes.)
• Il me faut un oreiller pour dormir. (I need a pillow to sleep.)

→ by a verb in the infinitive form:

• Il faut sortir les œufs du frigo. (You have to/need to take the eggs out of the fridge.)
• Il faut partir maintenant. (You must go now.)

→ by a verb in the subjunctive form:

• Il faut qu’elle vienne tout de suite (She must come immediately)
• Il faut que vous appeliez le docteur. (You must call the doctor)

Valoir can mean to be worth . It is the verb you need for example to ask how much something costs, in other words how much it is worth :

• Combien vaut ce vélo ? (How much is this bike?)

You can also use it in expressions like valoir le coup or valoir la peine to say something is worth doing or not. Imagine you are talking about a city you visited last weekend:

• Ça vaut vraiment le coup d’y aller, c’est magnifique ! (It’s really worth visiting, it’s beautiful!)

Now imagine you have worked hard on a project but the result is disappointing. Then you can say:

• Ça ne valait pas la peine de travailler autant, quel gâchis ! (It wasn’t worth working so hard, what a mess!)

Another meaning of valoir is better to , or preferable . In this case, you use the impersonal  pronoun “il” in the expression il vaut mieux . You can also begin your sentence directly with “mieux” and use the phrase mieux vaut :

• Il vaut mieux partir avant qu’il fasse nuit. (We’d better go before it gets dark.)
• Mieux vaut partir tout de suite. (It’s preferable to leave right away.)

This last usage – il vaut mieux – is the one that seems to create some confusion where some people use falloir instead. Indeed, some tend to say “il faut mieux” to mean “it’s better to”. That is what is called a barbarism, i.e. an incorrect use of the language! Be careful not to use “il faut mieux” when what you want to say is it’s preferable or one had better do something.

However, if you want to express an obligation, necessity or need to do something better , then you will use falloir for the necessity followed by the equivalent of better , i.e. mieux and the verb, or the verb and mieux. Both word orders are correct. For example:

• Il faut mieux travailler = Il faut travailler mieux. (We must / need to work better)

Careful! Note the difference between these two sentences:

• Il faut mieux manger. = Il faut manger mieux. → We need to eat better (we must have a better diet). 
• Il vaut mieux manger. → We’d better eat (… if we want to survive!)

Also note that with falloir + mieux, you can change the word order and put mieux before or after the verb. This will not change the meaning. Yet with valoir, the order of the words cannot be modified.

Now, let’s take this opportunity to look at two French proverbs using falloir and valoir :

Il faut battre le fer pendant qu’il est chaud. (Make hay while the sun shines.) Mieux vaut tard que jamais. (Better late than never.)

If you know other proverbs and sayings using falloir and valoir, feel free to share them in the comments section below this article.

There you are! You now master the difference between falloir and valoir . Congratulations! 😀

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Why your strange translation of: “Il faut battre le fer pendant qu’il est chaud”? Shouldn’t it be: “strike the iron while it’s hot”?

Thank you for your comment. It is true, one another way to translate “il faut battre le fer pendant qu’il est chaud” is “Strike while the iron is hot”. Obviously, it is actually closer to the French idiom since the metaphor is similar, but “Make hay while the sun shines” conveys the same meaning and I chose that one only because it seems to be more commonly used, at least in Britain. Maybe there are other English speaking countries where “Strike while the iron is hot” is more common than “Make hay while the sun shines”?

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French word of the week: valoir

Welcome back to our French word of the week blog. This time we’re going to look at the verb valoir . Valoir follows an irregular conjugation in French. To hear the pronunciation of this verb , listen to the audio below:

The main translation and usage of this verb is to be worth . You might find it confusing that the translation has two parts – the English verb to be , plus the adjective worth . As this can all be conveyed with just one word in French, it might take you a moment to wrap your head around.

Here are some common examples of valoir in action. We can use this verb to talk about the worth of something in terms of its price:

Ces livres valent 150 euros à chacun. These books are worth 150 euros each.

Cette bague ne vaut rien. This ring is worthless .

Dans dix ans, ses peintures vaudront beaucoup. In ten years, her paintings will be worth a lot.

One tricky thing to grasp about this verb is that it’s most often used impersonally. It’s not always an object or person who is ‘being worth’, but something unspecified. You might notice this in the expressions below: 

valoir la peine to be worth while; to be worth your while

Ne pleure pas. Il ne vaut pas la peine. Don’t cry. It’s not worth it.

ça vaut le coup it’s worth it; it’s worth a shot

Vous devez visiter le château. Ça vaut vraiment le coup. You have to visit the castle. It’s really worth it.

valoir mieux… to be more worth while to…; to be best/better to…

Il vaut mieux partir avant minuit. We’d better leave before midnight.

Finally, the verb has some other, quite distinct translations which feel further away from the concept of worth. You might not see these too often, but it might be useful to be aware of them:

Ces règles valent pour tout le monde. These rules apply to everyone.

valoir quelque chose à quelqu’un to earn somebody something; to cause somebody something

Je n’habite plus avec lui. Il m’ a valu des gros problèmes financiers. I don’t live with him anymore. He caused me some big problems with money.

faire valoir ses droits to exercise your rights

Keep coming back to learn about our latest French word every week. It’s definitely worth checking out our blogs and Easy Learning French Grammar pages to improve your language skills.

Written by  Holly Tarbet , freelance copywriter and editor.

All opinions expressed on this blog are those of the individual writers, and do not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Collins, or its parent company, HarperCollins.

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Valoir le coup - Ça vaut le coup

• Pronunciation & Conversation
• Resources For Teachers

Expression: Valoir le coup

Pronunciation: [ vah lwar leu koo ]

Meaning: to be worth it (it's worth it)

Literal translation: to be worth the effort

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The French expression valoir le coup is very often used impersonally, as in ça vaut le coup (it's worth it) and ça valait le coup (it was worth it). But valoir le coup can also be used with any third person singular or plural subject, including people.

    Ça vaut le coup d'œil.

   It's worth a look, worth seeing.

    Ce sont des classes qui valent le coup.

   They're worthwhile classes, They're classes worth taking.

    J'espère que ce voyage va valoir le coup.

   I hope this trip is worth it.

Ça vaut le coup de + infinitive :

    Ça vaut le coup d'essayer.

   It's worth trying, worth a try.

    Ça vaut le coup de prendre la voiture.

   It's worth bringing the car.

Il / Elle vaut le coup que + subjunctive (informal):

    Il vaut le coup qu'on essaie.

   It's worth a try.

    Ma voiture n'est pas trop vieille—elle vaut le coup que je la fasse réparer.

   My car isn't too old—it's worth getting it repaired.

    Lise a un bon potentiel—elle vaut le coup qu'on la patronne.

   Lise has a lot of potential—it's worth our while to sponsor her.

Synonymous expression: Valoir la peine , Ça vaut la peine - literally, "To be worth the pain, It's worth the pain"

• Expressions with coup
• Most common French phrases
• French Expressions Using "Coup"
• French Vocabulary Lesson: Banking and Money
• French Expressions with Donner
• Faire les quatre cents coups
• Coup de fil
• French Expressions with Être
• Avoir la frite
• Tenir le coup
• Idiomatic French Expressions with Pain
• How to Use the French Expression Ça Va in Conversation
• Popular English Sayings Translated into French
• French Expressions with Passer
• How to Use the French Expression "Ça Marche"
• Touring Montréal: An Easy French-English Bilingual Story
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• Cambridge Dictionary +Plus

Translation of valoir – French–English dictionary

(Translation of valoir from the GLOBAL French-English Dictionary © 2018 K Dictionaries Ltd)

Translation of valoir | PASSWORD French-English Dictionary

(Translation of valoir from the PASSWORD French-English Dictionary © 2014 K Dictionaries Ltd)

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something dangerous or serious, such as an accident, that happens suddenly or unexpectedly and needs fast action in order to avoid harmful results

Paying attention and listening intently: talking about concentration

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French translation of 'voyage'

Video: pronunciation of voyage

Examples of 'voyage' in a sentence voyage

Trends of voyage.

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In other languages voyage

• American English : voyage / ˈvɔɪɪdʒ /
• Brazilian Portuguese : viagem
• Chinese : 航程
• European Spanish : travesía
• French : voyage
• German : Reise
• Italian : viaggio in nave, nello spazio
• Japanese : 旅
• Korean : 긴 여행
• European Portuguese : viagem
• Latin American Spanish : travesía
• Thai : การเดินทาง

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