In French, you can use "devoir" or "avoir besoin de" to express "to need to". Let's find out when you should use one or the other.
Learn when to use 'devoir' or 'avoir besoin de' in French
Look at these two sentences expressing the idea of "need":
Devoir + [infinitif] primarily means must [do] / have to [do], but in some cases it can be used as need to [do].
See Conjugate devoir in the present tense in French (Le Présent)
Avoir besoin de + [infinitif] always means need to [do], as it literally means "to have need of".
See Avoir besoin de = To need (French Expressions with avoir)
As for expressing to need [something], it will always be avoir besoin de [quelque chose] :
ATTENTION:
Devoir [quelque chose] has a completely different meaning = to owe [something].
It can never mean to need [something].
Special cases :
"needing to go to the toilet"
As stated above, you can use either avoir besoin de or devoir in that case, but you could also use avoir envie de (= to feel like) in this specific case : though it can sound a bit "whimsical", it's perfectly colloquial here!
"needing to throw up"
Another weird case is how to say you feel nauseous, need to throw up. In French, the most colloquial expression there is to use once again avoir envie de (= to feel like), though no one really ever "feels like" vomiting!
See also Avoir envie de = To feel like, want to (French Expressions with avoir)
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