devoir details

ByFast French

The French verb “devoir” means “to have to” or “must.” An earlier post looked at “devoir” in a general sense. Let’s examine a few specific aspects of “devoir” that are indispensable for reading and talking in French.

Past participle

The past participle of “devoir” is “dû.” Unlike the past participles of “avoir, savoir, vouloir, pouvoir, voir, boire” which all end in an unaccented “u” (ie “eu, su, voulu, pu, vu, bu”), the past participle of “devoir” has a circumflex accent on the last letter.

In the passé composé, “dû” translates as “had to.”

  • j’ai dû partir (I had to leave)
  • ils ont dû demander (they had to ask)
  • elle a dû s’excuser (she had to apologise)
  • tu a dû grimper (you had to climb)

In the plus-que-parfait, “dû” means “had had to,” although the second “had” is not usually written or said in English.

  • j’avais dû partir (I had had to leave)
  • ils avaient dû demander (they had had to ask)
  • elle avait dû s’excuser (she had had to apologise)
  • tu avait dû grimper (you had had to climb)

In the present conditional, “devoir” means “should.”

  • je devrais partir (I should leave)
  • ils devraient demander (they should ask)
  • elle devrait s’excuser (she should apologise)
  • tu devrais grimper (you should climb)

In the past conditional, “devoir” means “should have.”

  • j’aurais dû partir (I should have left)
  • ils auraient dû demander (they should have asked)
  • elle aurait dû s’excuser (she should have apologised)
  • tu aurais dû grimper (you should have climbed)

Don’t miss new articles!

Get 1 email a week with new articles about French

We don’t spam! Read more in our privacy policy

Similar Posts

  • passer l’éponge

    ByFast French

    Passer l’éponge means literally to pass the sponge, but in slightly better English it would be to wipe the sponge. The English saying it most closely resembles would be “to wipe the slate clean.” It means to restart from zero, to forgive, or to forget disagreeable acts. The expression dates back to the start of…

  • amener, apporter, emmener, emporter

    ByFast French

    The French verbs “amener,” “apporter,” “emmener” and “emporter” are used to translate the English verbs “to take” and “to bring.” But which one should you use? And what happened to “prendre?” mener Both “amener” and “emmener” are based on the verb “mener,” which means “to lead.” You can lead a person, an animal or a…

  • semaine des quatre jeudis

    ByFast French

    A “semaine des quatre jeudis” means “never,” “something impossible,” “something that will never happen.” Literally it means “a week with four Thursdays,” implying that Friday and therefore the weekend will never come. This expression is quite old, having been around since the end of the 15th century, when it was known as “la semaine à…

  • il vaut mieux

    ByFast French

    The phrase “il vaut mieux” can be translated as “it is better” or “it is preferable.” It is employed to express a preference or recommendation, suggesting that one option is superior or more desirable than another. It uses an impersonal construction of the verb “valoir,” which means “to be worth.” An impersonal construction means that…

  • s’en aller, s’en faire, s’en vouloir

    ByFast French

    These three French expressions are frequently used. They combine a reflexive pronoun (“se”) with the adverbial pronoun “en,” which can mean a variety of things, including “of it,” “of them,” “some of them,” “any of them,” “any of it,” “some of it,” “from it,” “from them,” etc. s’en aller Meaning: to leave, to go away…

  • past subjunctive

    ByFast French

    The French past subjunctive is called le subjonctif passé. It is a compound tense used to express uncertainty, emotion, doubt, necessity or possibility about an action that has already been completed. Like the present subjunctive, the past subjunctive is used in subordinate clauses introduced by que. The past subjunctive is formed using the present subjunctive…

2 Comments

  1. so how does one translate would
    If it rains tomorrow I would have to cancel the concert
    for example
    Adam could visit us on Monday. This tells us that it is possible Adam will visit on Monday, maybe he can visit us, but maybe he has other options, too. Visiting us is one possibility.
    Adam would visit us on Monday. This tells us that we can imagine a situation in which Adam wants to visit us on Monday, but maybe it is not actually possible. Adam is willing to visit us, under the right conditions or if he can.
    Adam should visit us on Monday. This tells us that Adam visiting on Monday is a good idea, or that it is something Adam is obligated to do.

  2. If it rains tomorrow I would have to cancel the concert – S’il pleut demain, je devrais annuler le concert (present conditional of “devoir”)

    Adam could visit us on Monday – Adam pourrait nous rendre visite lundi (present conditional of “pouvoir”)

    Adam would visit us on Monday – Adam nous rendrait visite lundi (present conditional of “rendre”)

    Adam should visit us on Monday – Adam devrait nous rendre visite lundi (present conditional of “devoir”)

    There is not an exact match between English and French verb tenses (or between English words and French words). There is some overlap in meaning among the French verb tenses (as you can see in the above examples). That is because French verb tenses have developed from Latin verb tenses, while English verb tenses are Germanic in origin. There are certainly many similarities between English and French, but there is no direct correlation.

Comments are closed.