French guides · Verb tables + audio

Devoir: must, ought to, and to owe.

Devoir means “to have to” — and, in the same table with no change of form, “to owe”. Je dois partir is “I have to leave”; je te dois dix euros is “I owe you ten euros”. Which one you mean is decided entirely by what follows the verb: an infinitive means obligation, a thing means debt.

Cocoon French·Updated 16 September 2026·6 min read

Présent — doi- and dev-

The familiar boot: doi- in the singular and for ils, dev- for nous and vous. The ils form doubles the v — doivent — which makes it audible against the silent singular endings.

French	English	Listen
je dois	I must
tu dois	you must
il / elle doit	he / she must
nous devons	we must
vous devez	you must
ils / elles doivent	they must

Obligation or debt?

Look at what comes next. Je dois + infinitive = I must. Je dois + a noun or an amount = I owe. Je dois travailler, I have to work. Je dois de l’argent, I owe money. There is no ambiguity in practice, which is why French never bothered to split them.

Je dois or il faut?

Both translate as “must”, and beginners are usually taught il faut first because it never conjugates. The difference is who the obligation belongs to.

French	Means	Feel
je dois partir	I have to leave	personal — it’s my obligation
il faut partir	we/one must leave	impersonal — it’s just necessary
il faut que je parte	I must leave	impersonal, aimed at me — needs the subjonctif

Il faut is blunter and more universal; devoir attaches the duty to a person. If you want to say you specifically have to do something, devoir is the cleaner choice — and it spares you the subjunctive.

Passé composé — the circumflex

The participle is dû, and that hat is doing a real job: it separates the participle from du, the contraction of de + le, which is one of the most common words in the language.

French	English	Listen
j’ai dû	I had to / must have
tu as dû	you had to / must have
il / elle a dû	he / she had to / must have
nous avons dû	we had to / must have
vous avez dû	you had to / must have
ils / elles ont dû	they had to / must have

⚠ The circumflex only survives in one form

Masculine singular takes it: dû. The moment anything is added, it goes — feminine due, plural dus, feminine plural dues. The reason is that the ambiguity it existed to prevent no longer exists once there is an extra letter.

“Must have” is the passé composé

Il a dû partir is genuinely ambiguous in French too: it can be “he had to leave” or “he must have left”. Context decides, exactly as in English.

Imparfait — was supposed to

Regular from dev-. Worth knowing for one specific use: je devais le voir hier means “I was supposed to see him yesterday” — with the strong implication that it did not happen.

French	English	Listen
je devais	I had to / was supposed to
tu devais	you had to / was supposed to
il / elle devait	he / she had to / was supposed to
nous devions	we had to / was supposed to
vous deviez	you had to / was supposed to
ils / elles devaient	they had to / was supposed to

Futur and conditionnel — devr-

The stem loses the oi and keeps a single r: devr-. Je devrai, “I will have to”.

French	English	Listen
je devrai	I will have to
tu devras	you will have to
il / elle devra	he / she will have to
nous devrons	we will have to
vous devrez	you will have to
ils / elles devront	they will have to

Conditionnel — ought to

This is where devoir earns its keep a second time. The conditionnel is how French says “should” and “ought to”: tu devrais dormir, “you should sleep”. There is no separate verb for it — advice is simply devoir in the conditionnel.

French	English	Listen
je devrais	I would have to
tu devrais	you would have to
il / elle devrait	he / she would have to
nous devrions	we would have to
vous devriez	you would have to
ils / elles devraient	they would have to

⚠ je devrai and je devrais

One letter, two meanings, near-identical sound. Je devrai (no s) is “I will have to”. Je devrais (with s) is “I should”. Native speakers mix these up in writing constantly.

Subjonctif — doive

The boot pattern once more, on doiv-. You will meet it less often than the others here, because obligation tends to be stated rather than doubted.

French	English	Listen
je doive	(that) I have to
tu doives	(that) you have to
il / elle doive	(that) he / she have to
nous devions	(that) we have to
vous deviez	(that) you have to
ils / elles doivent	(that) they have to

Impératif and plus-que-parfait

The imperative exists on paper and is essentially never used — ordering somebody to have to do something is as odd in French as it is in English.

French	English	Listen
dois !	have to! (to one person you know)
devons !	let’s have to!
devez !	have to! (formal, or to a group)

Plus-que-parfait — had had to

J’avais dû. The circumflex survives here too, because it is still the bare masculine singular.

French	English	Listen
j’avais dû	I had had to
tu avais dû	you had had to
il / elle avait dû	he / she had had to
nous avions dû	we had had to
vous aviez dû	you had had to
ils / elles avaient dû	they had had to

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Quick answers

Devoir, answered.

The questions that come up while you are learning the table.

How do you conjugate devoir in the present tense?+

Je dois, tu dois, il / elle doit, nous devons, vous devez, ils / elles doivent.

What is the past participle of devoir?+

Dû, with a circumflex — but only in the masculine singular. It becomes due, dus and dues when it agrees, and loses the hat each time.

Why does dû have a circumflex?+

To tell it apart from du, the contraction of de + le. Once an agreement ending is added there is no longer any confusion, so the accent is dropped.

What is the difference between je dois and il faut?+

Je dois attaches the obligation to a person — “I have to”. Il faut is impersonal — “it is necessary”. To aim il faut at somebody you need the subjunctive: il faut que je parte.

How do you say “should” in French?+

With devoir in the conditionnel: tu devrais, “you should”. French has no separate verb for it.

Does devoir mean “to owe”?+

Yes, and it is the same verb with the same forms. An infinitive after it means obligation (je dois partir); a noun after it means debt (je te dois dix euros).