Key learning points

1. 'Il est', 'il fait', 'il y a' and 'il faut' are common impersonal verbs.
2. Impersonal verbs 'il vaut mieux' (it's better) and 'ça vaut la peine de' (it's worth) are followed by the infinitive.
3. To talk about what you can, know, have to, or want to do, use modal verbs: 'pouvoir', 'savoir', 'devoir', 'vouloir'.
4. If modal verbs are followed by another verb it must be in the infinitive form.
5. The past participles of the four modal verbs are: 'dû', 'pu', 'voulu' and 'su'. They are used with 'avoir'.

Keywords

• Impersonal verb - a verb that doesn't refer to a particular person or thing, and whose subject is most often 'il' (it)

• Modal verb - verb of necessity or possibility used with a 2nd verb in infinitive, e.g. 'must', 'can', 'want'

Common misconception