Ms Help Learning French - Basic Lesson Student: John Doe

Taken from Wikibooks: http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/French/Lessons/Everyday_life

Grammar · Devoir, Falloir, and avoir besoin de

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To have need of · avoir besoin de

The word le besoin ( /b .zw ̃/ (buh-zwa(n))) means need, and thus the expression avoir besoin deǝ ɛ translates to to have need of.

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To have to · Devoir

Present indicative verb to have to, to owe devoir /d .vwa / (duh-vwahr)ǝ ʁ

je dois /dwa/ (dwah) I have totu dois /dwa/ (dwah) you have toil doit /dwa/ (dwah) he has toelle doit she has toon doit one has to nous devons /d .v ̃/ (duh-voh(n))ǝ ɔ we have tovous devez /d .ve/ (duh-vay)ǝ you have to ils doivent (dwahv) they have to elles doivent past participle: dû ( /dy/ (dew))

The past participle drops the circumflex accent in its other forms: feminine singular due; masculine plural dus; feminine plural dues.

Used as a noun, le devoir means duty or exercise.

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To be necessary · Falloir

falloir /fa.lwa / (fah-lwahr)ʁ to be necessary il faut /f / (foh)ɔ it is necessary il a fallu /fa.ly/ (fah-lew) it was necessary

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Ms Help Learning French - Basic Lesson Student: John Doe

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Comparison

The verb falloir differs from similar verbs such as avoir besoin de [faire quelque chose] (to need [to do something]) and devoir (must, duty, owe). Falloir is always used with the impersonal il only in the third person singular, whereas devoir can be used with all subject pronouns in all tenses.

Falloir expresses general necessities: To live, one must eat. To speak French well, one must conjugate verbs correctly.

Devoir expresses more personally what someone must do: I want to pass my French test, so I must study verb conjugations.

Avoir besoin de [faire quelque chose] expresses need: I need to study for my test, it's tomorrow.J'ai besoin d'etudier pour mon examen, il est demain.

Examples

Il doit aller en France un jour.He must go to France one day.

L’officier doit veiller aux besoins du soldat.The officer must ensure the needs of the soldier.

Vous devez passer un examen médical.You need to take a medical examination.

Il faut faire venir le plombier pour réparer cette conduite d’eau.One must have the plumber come to repair the water line.

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