devoir: conjugation and meaning · How to Learn French

Conjugations

All six tenses and their examples are shown below. Use the links above to jump to a tense. English translations use the meaning “to have to.”

Present Présent

Habits, current states, and actions happening now.

devoir: Present, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	dois	I have to
tu	dois	you have to
il / elle / on	doit	he / she / it has toon: we have to / one has to
nous	devons	we have to
vous	devez	you have to
ils / elles	doivent	they have to

IN A SENTENCEPresent example

Paul doit partir avant midi.

Paul has to leave before noon.

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Passé composé

Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.

devoir: Passé composé, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	ai dû	I had to
tu	as dû	you had to
il / elle / on	a dû	he / she / it had toon: we had to / one had to
nous	avons dû	we had to
vous	avez dû	you had to
ils / elles	ont dû	they had to

IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example

Hier, Paul a dû prendre le bus.

Yesterday, Paul had to take the bus.

The passé composé uses avoir. The table shows the unmarked participle; agreement with a preceding direct object is outside this reference.

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Imperfect Imparfait

Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.

devoir: Imperfect, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	devais	I had to
tu	devais	you had to
il / elle / on	devait	he / she / it had toon: we had to / one had to
nous	devions	we had to
vous	deviez	you had to
ils / elles	devaient	they had to

IN A SENTENCEImperfect example

Autrefois, Paul devait travailler le samedi.

Back then, Paul had to work on Saturdays.

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Future Futur simple

Future events and predictions.

devoir: Future, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	devrai	I will have to
tu	devras	you will have to
il / elle / on	devra	he / she / it will have toon: we will have to / one will have to
nous	devrons	we will have to
vous	devrez	you will have to
ils / elles	devront	they will have to

IN A SENTENCEFuture example

Demain, Paul devra se lever tôt.

Tomorrow, Paul will have to get up early.

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Conditional Conditionnel présent

Hypothetical events and polite requests.

devoir: Conditional, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	devrais	I would have to
tu	devrais	you would have to
il / elle / on	devrait	he / she / it would have toon: we would have to / one would have to
nous	devrions	we would have to
vous	devriez	you would have to
ils / elles	devraient	they would have to

IN A SENTENCEConditional example

Si le train était annulé, Paul devrait prendre le bus.

If the train were canceled, Paul would have to take the bus.

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Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent

Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.

devoir: Present subjunctive, with English translations
Subject	French	English
je / j’	doive	(that) I have to
tu	doives	(that) you have to
il / elle / on	doive	(that) he / she / it has toon: (that) we have to / one has to
nous	devions	(that) we have to
vous	deviez	(that) you have to
ils / elles	doivent	(that) they have to

IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example

Il est possible que Paul doive travailler samedi.

Paul may have to work on Saturday.

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French forms omit the subject. Use j’ before a vowel sound. Vous is polite singular or plural “you”; on often means “we,” or the general “one.” English wording depends on the context: passé composé can also use “have,” and the imperfect can describe an ongoing action. Subjunctive translations here follow “it is possible that.”

Meaning & usage

must, to have to, should (as a requirement)
must
should

English glosses are a starting point. The meaning of a verb can change with context, a preposition, or se. Read the full dictionary entry ↗

Meanings and simple conjugation forms adapted from English Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki.org / Wiktextract. Passé composé forms combine the source auxiliary and past participle. Frequency scores from wordfreq 3.1.1 by Robyn Speer and contributors. Adapted data is available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Entry source · Sources, download & limitations