devoir details
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)
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.
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.