meaning of "failli"

[Patf]

I saw this sentence: "Il a failli t'avoir, Raymond." Could anyone tell me what it means . Also whether failli comes from falloir and if so which form is it?  Thanks. Pat.

[Christine Animal]

He nearly had you, Raymond.

Faillir to fail : He failed to have you, Raymond.

Christine

[Vraititi<P>PSG till I die -fluctuat nec mergitur.<P>]

It is practically always translated as 'nearly' and it comes from 'faillir', the Tense is 'passé composé' in 'j'ai failli'. The phrase, 'j'ai failli + verb' is very used and would probably be under the 'expression courante et familière' rubric, but the verb 'faillir'  is polymorphous in its meanings (many derivatives also- has a huge family !) and would need a complete chapter ! Just to give you a flavour though,   it can also mean 'manquer à ses devoirs' (to fail in one's duties) but in this case is academic or literary French, far more than 'fail to', to which most speakers would use 'échouer' instead or a periphrasis such as 'ne pas réussir à'. This verb 'faillir' can also be very archaic when used as 'faire défaut, faire faute, manquer': 'Le courage me faillait' (= I lacked courage), again very literary.

J'ai failli tomber = I nearly fell off

Other French synonyms include:

être sur le point de faire quelquechose, être tout prêt de... (to be about to do smthg)                  or (colloquial): 'être à 2 doigts de...'

'J'étais si bourré que, à un moment, j'ai été à 2 doigts de tomber du balcon, dis donc'                    = 'Crikey, I was so drunk that, at one point, I nearly fell off the balcony' (I was that close from falling off)

'j'étais à 2 doigts d'abandonner' = I nearly gave up (you could also say here: j'étais sur le point d'abandonner').

[Vraititi<P>PSG till I die -fluctuat nec mergitur.<P>]

Sorry, I forgot, your translation ! well, Christine is right, as usual, it means just that: 'he nearly had you'. It is a very commonly used phrase, but one that is very hard to spot for a non native speaker as it is so short and looks so 'innocuous' having 'avoir' in it, you could be forgiven for not spotting that it is a set phrase in its own right, a wolf in sheep's clothing !

Other well-used synonyms for 'avoir quelqu'un or se faire avoir' (to be had/to get/to fool someone) include:

Berner quelqu'un (can be used jokingly or can be more aggressive/negatively -admittedly used more for the latter, for instance for a practical joke that is not too appreciated or to hoodwink). 'il t'a berné !' (he got you there !)

Se jouer de quelqu'un (literary -to dupe-, again can be in jest or hostile) 'il s'est joué de toi !'

There are plenty others meaning 'to dupe, to deceive, etc.' but as they are solely negative, which is not the nature of the Q, I will not mention them.

 

[Christine Animal]

"Les jolies femmes ont toujours raison"  (Peanuts).

[Patf]

I thought it would be a colloquial phrase, but just couldn't work out which verb it came from. It's from a comic strip "Rusticat" which is full of (polite) slang phrases. I wish I could remember them all. Pat.