The way I understand devoir, it can mean inevitability in the imparfait such as Il eva it perdre un jour. in the test question, the answer for she had
Chris
Kwiziq community member
29/01/19
Elle a dû le remplacer. -- She had to replace him.Elle devait le remplacer. -- She was supposed to replace him.
Ann
Kwiziq community member
29/01/19
From the thought co: You can also use devoir to express fatalism or the fact that something is inevitable:
Il devait perdre un jour. > He had to / was bound to lose one day. Elle ne devait pas l'entendre avant lundi. > She wasn't to hear it until Monday.Your answer
Don't have an account yet? Join today
Think you've got all the answers?
Test your French to the CEFR standard
find your French level »4335questions8868answers155,530users
Ann
Kwiziq community member
28 January 2019
2 replies
The way I understand devoir, it can mean inevitability in the imparfait such as Il eva it perdre un jour. in the test question, the answer for she had
to replace him was "Elle a dû" vs if it was inevitable, shouldn't "Elle devait" be correct as well?
This question relates to:
French lesson "When to use "devoir" in L'Imparfait or Le Passé Composé"