What does faillir mean in French?

Followed by an infinitive it means to almost do something: j'ai failli tomber, I almost fell. In formal French it keeps an older meaning, to fail in something: il a failli à sa promesse, he broke his promise.

How do you say 'I almost did something' in French?

J'ai failli plus the infinitive: j'ai failli oublier, j'ai failli manquer le bus. You can also say j'ai presque oublié, but faillir is the structure a native speaker reaches for first.

Why is faillir called a defective verb?

Because most of its paradigm has fallen out of use. The passé composé is alive (j'ai failli), the passé simple survives in literature (il faillit), and the present tense in the almost sense has effectively disappeared.

Do you need de after faillir?

No. Faillir attaches straight to the infinitive: j'ai failli partir. The version with de belongs to manquer: j'ai manqué de partir, which means the same thing but sounds distinctly formal.

Does failli ever agree with the subject?

No. It takes avoir and there is never a preceding direct object, so it stays failli throughout: il a failli, elle a failli, elles ont failli tomber.

French grammar · Advanced

Faillir in French: How to Say You Almost Did Something

Written by Camille Laurent, Lead French Curriculum Editor · Reviewed May 2026

Faillir plus an infinitive is how French says that something nearly happened: j'ai failli oublier, I almost forgot. It is a defective verb, which means most of its forms have fallen out of use, and in practice you meet it in the passé composé and hardly anywhere else.

J'ai failli tomber dans l'escalier.

I almost fell down the stairs.

What it is

English puts almost or nearly in front of a past tense: I almost missed the train. French has a dedicated verb for that idea instead. Faillir carries the almost, and the thing that nearly happened follows as an infinitive, so the adverb disappears entirely.

J'ai failli manquer le train. — I almost missed the train.

How to spot it

Look for the shape avoir + failli + infinitive. There is no preposition between failli and the infinitive, and no negation either: the near miss is already built into the verb.

Elle a failli se blesser. — She almost hurt herself.
Nous avons failli rater notre vol. — We nearly missed our flight.
Il a failli me le dire. — He almost told me.
J'ai failli oublier ton anniversaire. — I nearly forgot your birthday.

Failli never changes form. It is used with avoir and it stays failli whoever the subject is: elle a failli, elles ont failli.

Faillir Quick Reference

Ways to say something nearly happened

Structure	Register	Example
faillir + infinitive	neutral, very common	j'ai failli tomber — I almost fell
presque + past tense	informal, weaker	je suis presque tombé — I almost fell
manquer de + infinitive	formal, written	j'ai manqué de tomber — I came close to falling
être sur le point de	about to, on purpose or not	j'étais sur le point de partir — I was about to leave
il a failli + infinitive	third person, same shape	il a failli refuser — he nearly refused
faillir à + noun	formal, a different meaning	faillir à sa promesse — to break one's promise
sans faillir	fixed expression	chaque année, sans faillir — every year, without fail

Common Faillir Examples in French

Faillir in the situations where French reaches for it:

Accidents Narrowly Avoided

J'ai failli glisser sur le trottoir.: I almost slipped on the pavement.
La voiture a failli renverser un piéton.: The car nearly ran over a pedestrian.
Il a failli se noyer l'été dernier.: He almost drowned last summer.
Elle a failli tout casser.: She nearly broke everything.

This is faillir's home territory: something bad that came close to happening and didn't.

Forgetting and Missing

J'ai failli oublier de te prévenir.: I almost forgot to let you know.
Nous avons failli manquer le début du film.: We nearly missed the start of the film.
Tu as failli rater ton train.: You nearly missed your train.
On a failli passer à côté.: We almost walked straight past it.

Failli oublier de is extremely frequent in speech, and the de belongs to oublier, not to faillir.

Reactions and Feelings

J'ai failli éclater de rire.: I nearly burst out laughing.
Elle a failli pleurer.: She almost cried.
Il a failli tout avouer.: He nearly confessed everything.
J'ai failli lui répondre.: I almost answered him back.

Here faillir describes an impulse you didn't act on, which is why it pairs so naturally with emotions.

The Formal Meanings

Il a failli à ses engagements.: He failed to honour his commitments.
Elle vient chaque année, sans faillir.: She comes every year, without fail.
Nous ne faillirons pas à notre devoir.: We shall not fail in our duty.
Sa mémoire commence à faillir.: His memory is beginning to fail.

These uses belong to formal and literary French. In conversation, échouer and manquer à do the same work.

How Faillir Works

A defective verb with one dominant form, one fixed structure, and no negation.

It Lives in the Passé Composé

Faillir describes a completed near miss, which is by nature a single past event. That is why the passé composé accounts for almost every real use: j'ai failli, tu as failli, on a failli.

On a failli se perdre en route.

We nearly got lost on the way.

avoir + failli + infinitive.

The Infinitive Follows Directly

Nothing comes between failli and the next verb: no de, no à, no que. If a preposition appears, it belongs to the second verb, as in j'ai failli oublier de payer.

J'ai failli lui téléphoner hier soir.

I almost phoned him last night.

failli + bare infinitive.

Never Negate It

The whole point of faillir is that the action did not happen, so adding ne … pas produces nonsense. Je n'ai pas failli tomber would mean you were never even close.

J'ai failli tomber, mais je me suis rattrapé.

I nearly fell, but I caught myself.

The negation is already inside the verb.

The Participle Is Invariable

Faillir takes avoir and what follows it is an infinitive, never a preceding direct object, so failli has nothing to agree with. It is failli for every subject: elles ont failli partir.

Elles ont failli partir sans nous.

They nearly left without us.

failli, always failli.

Pronouns Sit Before the Infinitive

Object pronouns attach to the verb they belong to, which is the infinitive, not faillir. That gives j'ai failli le dire and j'ai failli me tromper.

J'ai failli me tromper de numéro.

I almost dialled the wrong number.

failli + pronoun + infinitive.

Common Mistakes with Faillir

Incorrect: Je faille tomber. — I almost fell.

Correct: J'ai failli tomber. — I almost fell.

Faillir has no usable present tense in this meaning. A near miss is a finished event, so the passé composé is the natural and effectively the only form.

Incorrect: J'ai failli de tomber. — I almost fell.

Correct: J'ai failli tomber. — I almost fell.

Faillir takes a bare infinitive. The de belongs to manquer de, and learners who have met both structures often merge them.

Incorrect: Je n'ai pas failli tomber, heureusement. — I almost fell, luckily.

Correct: J'ai failli tomber, mais je me suis retenu. — I almost fell, but I steadied myself.

The near miss is already negative in meaning: the fall never happened. Negating faillir says you were never close at all, which is rarely what you want.

Incorrect: Elle a faillie tomber. — She almost fell.

Correct: Elle a failli tomber. — She almost fell.

The participle takes avoir and has no preceding direct object, so it cannot agree. Failli is invariable in every sentence it appears in.

Faillir Conjugated, and What Is Missing

Faillir is defective: several of its forms have simply died out. The compound past is alive and well, and everything else ranges from rare to literary.

Passé composé and pluperfect

These are the forms you will actually use and hear. The auxiliary is avoir and the participle never changes.

Pronoun	passé composé	plus-que-parfait
je / j'	ai failli	avais failli
tu	as failli	avais failli
il / elle / on	a failli	avait failli
nous	avons failli	avions failli
vous	avez failli	aviez failli
ils / elles	ont failli	avaient failli

The pluperfect turns up in narration: il avait failli renoncer, he had nearly given up.

The simple tenses, for reading

Faillir follows the regular -ir pattern in these tenses, but they belong to written and literary French. The present tense in the almost sense is not used at all.

Pronoun	passé simple	futur	conditionnel
je / j'	faillis	faillirai	faillirais
tu	faillis	failliras	faillirais
il / elle / on	faillit	faillira	faillirait
nous	faillîmes	faillirons	faillirions
vous	faillîtes	faillirez	failliriez
ils / elles	faillirent	failliront	failliraient

Il faillit tomber, in the passé simple, is how a novel would say it. In speech you will only ever hear il a failli tomber.

Faillir À, Sans Faillir, and the Older Meaning

Behind the everyday almost sits the verb's original meaning, to fail or to give way, which survives in a few formal structures.

Faillir à + noun

With à and a noun, faillir means to fail in an obligation. It is administrative and legal French rather than conversational.

Le ministre a failli à ses obligations.: The minister failed in his obligations.
Elle n'a jamais failli à sa parole.: She never went back on her word.
Ils ont failli à leur mission.: They failed in their mission.

In ordinary speech, ne pas tenir sa promesse says the same thing far more naturally.

Sans faillir

This fixed adverbial phrase means without fail or without wavering, and describes reliability over time.

Il nous soutient depuis vingt ans, sans faillir.: He has backed us for twenty years, without fail.
Elle a tenu bon sans faillir.: She held firm without wavering.
La tradition se poursuit sans faillir.: The tradition continues unbroken.

Sans faute is the everyday equivalent when you mean without fail in the sense of definitely: je le fais demain sans faute.

The related words

Faillir has left a family of derivatives that are all in common use even though the verb itself is defective.

C'est une faille dans le raisonnement.: It's a flaw in the reasoning.
Il a fait faillite l'année dernière.: He went bankrupt last year.
Sa santé est défaillante.: His health is failing.

Faille, faillite and défaillant all share the idea of giving way, which is where the near miss sense came from.

Faillir FAQs

What does faillir mean in French?: Followed by an infinitive it means to almost do something: j'ai failli tomber, I almost fell. In formal French it keeps an older meaning, to fail in something: il a failli à sa promesse, he broke his promise.
How do you say 'I almost did something' in French?: J'ai failli plus the infinitive: j'ai failli oublier, j'ai failli manquer le bus. You can also say j'ai presque oublié, but faillir is the structure a native speaker reaches for first.
Why is faillir called a defective verb?: Because most of its paradigm has fallen out of use. The passé composé is alive (j'ai failli), the passé simple survives in literature (il faillit), and the present tense in the almost sense has effectively disappeared.
Do you need de after faillir?: No. Faillir attaches straight to the infinitive: j'ai failli partir. The version with de belongs to manquer: j'ai manqué de partir, which means the same thing but sounds distinctly formal.
Does failli ever agree with the subject?: No. It takes avoir and there is never a preceding direct object, so it stays failli throughout: il a failli, elle a failli, elles ont failli tomber.