Answers
Apr 28, 2018 - 04:07 PM
"J'ai besoin" means "I need" whereas "Je dois" means "I must"
Apr 28, 2018 - 09:25 PM
I know that. in the below examples need and must are basically used in the same way. in English we don't normally say I must have that, You must go there, They must buy something, We must do something, We must see something etc. We say I need to have that, You need to go there, , They need to buy something, we need to do something etc. So I wanted to know if there was a rule in French where you had to use dois in certain circumatances and j'ai besoin de in others.
Apr 29, 2018 - 08:16 AM
In English one would say " I need eggs " not " I must eggs ". That's basically the difference.
Apr 29, 2018 - 02:10 PM
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May 18, 2018 - 07:25 AM
On the one hand, it's true that we have the same difference as in English: Need/Avoir besoin de can be used with nouns (J'ai besoin d'eau/I need water) while must/devoir can't, it's always followed by a verb, as in: Je dois travailler/I must work OR I have to work ("have to" has no equivalent in French, the most common way is to use "devoir".
On the other hand, Avoir besoin de/Need can also be used with verbs, as in: J'ai besoin de dormir /I need to sleep.
So to sum up I'd say that:
Avoir besoin de = To need
Devoir = Must/ To have to
Hope it clarifies a bit :)
On the other hand, Avoir besoin de/Need can also be used with verbs, as in: J'ai besoin de dormir /I need to sleep.
So to sum up I'd say that:
Avoir besoin de = To need
Devoir = Must/ To have to
Hope it clarifies a bit :)
