What does devoir mean in French?

With an infinitive it means must or have to — je dois partir — and it can also express probability: il doit être malade, he must be ill. With a noun it means to owe: tu me dois dix euros. As a noun, le devoir means duty and les devoirs means homework.

How do you conjugate devoir?

Present: je dois, tu dois, il doit, nous devons, vous devez, ils doivent. The imperfect is je devais, the future je devrai on the irregular stem devr-, the conditional je devrais, the subjunctive que je doive, and the past participle dû.

Why does dû have a circumflex?

Purely to distinguish it in writing from the article du. The accent survives only in the masculine singular, so the feminine is due and the plurals are dus and dues, with no accent on any of them.

What is the difference between je dois and je devrais?

Je dois is an obligation you are under; je devrais is advice or a moral pull you may not act on. Je dois partir means I have to go, while je devrais partir means I really ought to go. The conditional past, j'aurais dû partir, turns it into a regret.

How do you say you don't have to in French?

Tu n'es pas obligé de, or ce n'est pas la peine de. Do not use tu ne dois pas, which means you must not — a prohibition rather than the absence of an obligation.

French grammar · Intermediate

Devoir: Must, Have To, Should, and To Owe

Written by Camille Laurent, Lead French Curriculum Editor · Reviewed May 2026

Devoir does two unrelated jobs. With an infinitive it expresses obligation or probability: je dois partir, I have to go, and il doit être malade, he must be ill. With a noun it means to owe: tu me dois dix euros. The tense you choose changes the force of the obligation, from a duty to a piece of advice to a regret.

Je dois partir avant huit heures.

I have to leave before eight.

What it is

Devoir is one of the three modal verbs that carry most of the weight in French, and the only one that also functions as an ordinary transitive verb. Which of its meanings applies is decided by what follows it: an infinitive gives obligation or supposition, a noun gives debt. Its second peculiarity is that its tense does not merely place the obligation in time — it changes how strong the obligation is.

Tu devrais lui téléphoner. — You ought to give her a ring.

How to spot it

Two stems in the present: doi- in the singular, dev- in the plural, with doivent in the third person plural going back to the singular vowel.

Je dois rentrer tôt. — I have to get home early.
Nous devons une réponse avant lundi. — We owe them an answer by Monday.
Ils doivent être en route. — They must be on their way.
J'aurais dû me taire. — I should have kept quiet.

The past participle is dû, with a circumflex that exists only to keep it apart from the article du. It disappears in the feminine and plural: due, dus, dues.

Devoir Quick Reference

Devoir by tense, and what each one means

Tense	Form	Meaning
présent	je dois partir	I have to leave
présent	il doit être malade	he must be ill
imparfait	je devais partir	I was supposed to leave
passé composé	j'ai dû partir	I had to leave, or I must have left
futur	je devrai partir	I'll have to leave
conditionnel	je devrais partir	I ought to leave
conditionnel passé	j'aurais dû partir	I should have left
subjonctif	que je doive partir	that I have to leave

Common Devoir Examples in French

The four meanings, each with its own grammar:

Obligation

Je dois finir ce rapport ce soir.: I have to finish this report tonight.
Tu ne dois pas parler à ta mère comme ça.: You mustn't speak to your mother like that.
Nous devons réserver avant vendredi.: We have to book before Friday.
Elle a dû annuler son voyage.: She had to cancel her trip.

In the negative this is a prohibition, not an absence of obligation. Tu ne dois pas venir means you are not to come.

Probability

Il doit avoir une trentaine d'années.: He must be about thirty.
Ça doit coûter cher.: That must be expensive.
Elle a dû oublier.: She must have forgotten.
Vous devez être fatigué après ce voyage.: You must be tired after that journey.

Structurally identical to obligation, so only the context separates them. Elle a dû partir can mean she had to leave or she must have left.

Owing

Tu me dois vingt euros.: You owe me twenty euros.
Je vous dois des excuses.: I owe you an apology.
Il doit tout à son père.: He owes everything to his father.
Combien est-ce que je vous dois ?: How much do I owe you?

With a noun instead of an infinitive, devoir always means owe — money, an apology, a favour, or a career.

Advice and Regret

Tu devrais consulter un médecin.: You should see a doctor.
On devrait partir maintenant.: We ought to leave now.
J'aurais dû l'écouter.: I should have listened to her.
Ils n'auraient pas dû venir.: They shouldn't have come.

The conditional turns obligation into advice; the conditional past turns it into a regret, or into a reproach aimed at somebody else.

How Devoir Behaves

Five rules, and the second one settles most ambiguities.

Two Stems in the Present

Dois, dois, doit, devons, devez, doivent. The vowel changes with the stress, which is why the plural nous and vous forms look so different from the rest.

Nous devons partir, mais ils doivent rester.

We have to leave, but they have to stay.

dois, devons, doivent.

An Infinitive Means Obligation, a Noun Means Debt

Nothing else distinguishes the two senses, and no preposition intervenes in either case. Je dois partir is obligation; je dois de l'argent is debt.

Je dois de l'argent à la banque.

I owe the bank money.

Look at what follows the verb.

The Future Stem Is Devr-

Devoir is one of the irregular-stem verbs, and the same stem serves the future and the conditional. Learn devrai and you have devrais free.

Tu devras te lever tôt.

You'll have to get up early.

devrai, devrais.

The Participle Is Dû, and It Agrees

In compound tenses with an infinitive there is nothing to agree with, so dû stays as it is. As an adjective meaning owed, it takes the usual endings.

Elle a dû rentrer à pied.

She had to walk home.

dû, due, dus, dues.

The Subjunctive Keeps Both Stems

Que je doive but que nous devions, following exactly the split of the present indicative. There is no imperative, since ordering someone to be obliged makes no sense.

Je regrette qu'il doive partir si tôt.

I'm sorry he has to leave so early.

que je doive, que nous devions.

Common Mistakes with Devoir

Incorrect: Je dois de partir maintenant. — I have to leave now.

Correct: Je dois partir maintenant. — I have to leave now.

Devoir takes a bare infinitive with no preposition. The de is imported from expressions like avoir besoin de and être obligé de, which do require one.

Incorrect: Elle a du partir tôt. — She had to leave early.

Correct: Elle a dû partir tôt. — She had to leave early.

The participle needs its circumflex. Without it the word is the article du, and the sentence is left with no second verb at all.

Incorrect: Tu ne dois pas venir si tu ne veux pas. — You don't have to come if you don't want to.

Correct: Tu n'es pas obligé de venir si tu ne veux pas. — You don't have to come if you don't want to.

Ne pas devoir is a prohibition: tu ne dois pas venir means you are forbidden to come. For the English you don't have to, French uses ne pas être obligé de.

Incorrect: Je devrais avoir écouté. — I should have listened.

Correct: J'aurais dû écouter. — I should have listened.

English puts the past marking on the second verb; French puts it on devoir itself. The pattern is the conditional of avoir, then dû, then a plain infinitive.

Devoir Across the Tenses

The simple tenses, then the compound and conditional forms where the meaning shifts most, then the subjunctive.

The simple tenses

The present has two stems, the imperfect only one, and the future uses the irregular devr-.

Pronoun	présent	imparfait	futur
je	je dois	je devais	je devrai
tu	tu dois	tu devais	tu devras
il / elle / on	il doit	il devait	il devra
nous	nous devons	nous devions	nous devrons
vous	vous devez	vous deviez	vous devrez
ils / elles	ils doivent	ils devaient	ils devront

The imperfect is where the meaning drifts furthest: je devais partir usually reports a plan that came to nothing.

Compound and conditional forms

These three columns cover most of what devoir is actually used for in conversation.

Pronoun	passé composé	conditionnel	conditionnel passé
je / j'	j'ai dû	je devrais	j'aurais dû
tu	tu as dû	tu devrais	tu aurais dû
il / elle / on	il a dû	il devrait	il aurait dû
nous	nous avons dû	nous devrions	nous aurions dû
vous	vous avez dû	vous devriez	vous auriez dû
ils / elles	ils ont dû	ils devraient	ils auraient dû

Tu devrais and vous devriez are the ordinary way of giving advice in French; j'aurais dû is the ordinary way of admitting a mistake.

The subjunctive

Built on the two present stems, and used after the same triggers as any other verb.

Pronoun	subjonctif présent	subjonctif passé
que je / j'	que je doive	que j'aie dû
que tu	que tu doives	que tu aies dû
qu'il / elle / on	qu'il doive	qu'il ait dû
que nous	que nous devions	que nous ayons dû
que vous	que vous deviez	que vous ayez dû
qu'ils / elles	qu'ils doivent	qu'ils aient dû

Que nous devions is identical to the imperfect nous devions, so only the trigger in front of it tells you which you are looking at.

Dû, Les Devoirs, and Se Devoir

The spelling, the noun, and the pronominal form.

The circumflex and its agreement

The masculine singular participle is written dû to distinguish it from the article du. Every other form drops the accent, because there is nothing left to confuse it with.

J'ai dû partir plus tôt.: I had to leave earlier.
La somme due sera versée demain.: The sum owing will be paid tomorrow.
Les congés dus seront reportés.: The leave owed will be carried over.

Dû, due, dus, dues. Only the first carries the accent, and only for that one reason.

Dû à and the noun devoir

Être dû à means to be caused by, and le devoir as a noun means duty, with the plural les devoirs meaning homework.

Le retard est dû à la grève.: The delay is due to the strike.
Il a fait son devoir.: He did his duty.
Les enfants font leurs devoirs.: The children are doing their homework.

Dû à agrees with the noun it describes: une erreur due à la fatigue, a mistake caused by tiredness.

Se devoir and comme il se doit

Se devoir de means to owe it to oneself to do something. Comme il se doit means as is only proper, and is entirely fixed.

Elle se doit d'être présente.: She owes it to herself to be there.
Tout s'est passé comme il se doit.: Everything went as it should.

Se devoir de takes de plus an infinitive and belongs to a fairly formal register, often in writing about duty or office.

Devoir FAQs

What does devoir mean in French?: With an infinitive it means must or have to — je dois partir — and it can also express probability: il doit être malade, he must be ill. With a noun it means to owe: tu me dois dix euros. As a noun, le devoir means duty and les devoirs means homework.
How do you conjugate devoir?: Present: je dois, tu dois, il doit, nous devons, vous devez, ils doivent. The imperfect is je devais, the future je devrai on the irregular stem devr-, the conditional je devrais, the subjunctive que je doive, and the past participle dû.
Why does dû have a circumflex?: Purely to distinguish it in writing from the article du. The accent survives only in the masculine singular, so the feminine is due and the plurals are dus and dues, with no accent on any of them.
What is the difference between je dois and je devrais?: Je dois is an obligation you are under; je devrais is advice or a moral pull you may not act on. Je dois partir means I have to go, while je devrais partir means I really ought to go. The conditional past, j'aurais dû partir, turns it into a regret.
How do you say you don't have to in French?: Tu n'es pas obligé de, or ce n'est pas la peine de. Do not use tu ne dois pas, which means you must not — a prohibition rather than the absence of an obligation.