a besoin d'aller aux toilettes or envie d'aller aux toilettes

Question

In an exercise I should fill in the following gap:

Mon fils ________ aller aux toilettes.

I choose "envie d'" but the solution seems to be "a besoin d'". But one example in the lesson about "Avoir envie de = To feel like, want to (Avoir envie de = To feel like, want to (French Expressions with avoir))" is:

J'ai envie d'aller aux toilettes !I need to go to the toilets!

So I would like to know, if both are correct. And if not, how do I choose the right one?

Best regards,
Martin

Maarten Kamp · Answer

Martin -

either ‘ a besoin d’aller .. ‘ or ‘ a envie d’aller.. ‘ would be correct. You have written in your post that the option given was ‘ envie d’aller ‘ (without the verb avoir preceding ‘ envie d’aller ‘) - that is incorrect as an expression and answer

If it was a multi-choice question attached to the lesson you linked, it is likely that only ‘ a besoin d’aller… ‘ was correctly presented.

Alternatively, the answer could need both choices to be ‘ totally ‘ correct, if more than 1 correct response was given.