Hi all,
Why would one say "il me reste des croissants" when "croissants" is a plural word and "il me reste" is a singular phrase? Is this just an expression?
Hi all,
Why would one say "il me reste des croissants" when "croissants" is a plural word and "il me reste" is a singular phrase? Is this just an expression?
Hi Siobhán,
Il --- reste = to have something left is an impersonal verb like il faut so you can conjugate it across tenses but it only has one form the impersonal 'il'.
Il lui reste €100 = He has €100 left
Il me faut 3 oignons = I need 3 onions
Il vous reste du pain dans le placard = You have bread left in the cupboard
Il leur faut des choux de Bruxelles = They need Brussels sprouts
Il me reste beaucoup à faire avant de me coucher = I have a lot left to do / I still have a lot to do before I go to bed
C'est tout ce qu'il me reste ! = That's all I have left!
Hope this helps
The impersonal pronoun "il' is always in the 3rd person singular - the verb agreement within the expression - ‘reste’ - is with the subject of the expression itself which is ‘il’.
The impersonal pronoun is used in many expressions and 'impersonal verbs' as used here in 'il me reste' - the verb is always conjugated in the 3rd person singular.
See https://www.lawlessfrench.com/grammar/impersonal-verbs/
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