Devait-il (en. Had he to)

/dəvɛ ɛtil/

Meaning & Definition

EnglishFrench

verb

Indicates an obligation or duty in the past.

He had to leave at noon, did he really have to stay?

Il devait partir à midi, devait-il vraiment rester ?

Used in an indirect question to know if an obligation was present.

I was wondering if he had to respond to the invitation.

Je me demandais s'il devait répondre à l'invitation.

Expresses a hypothesis or assumption in the past.

Did he have to be there for the meeting?

Devait-il être là pour la réunion ?

Formation of the verb 'to owe' in the past and in the interrogative form.

did he really have to?

Used to express doubt about an obligation.

devait-il vraiment ?

did he have to do it?

Question to find out if someone had an obligation to do something.

devait-il le faire ?

if he had to do it?

Inquires about a person's past duty.

s'il devait le faire ?

to owe

Verb indicating an obligation or necessity.

devoir

become

Past participle of the verb to become, indicating a change of state.

devenu

had

Imperfect form of the verb to have, often used in time constructions.

avait

Not too serious, a way of saying he should have done something but didn't.

Did he really have to go to that meeting?

Il devait-il vraiment aller à cette réunion ?

Used to question past decisions sarcastically.

Did he really have to do it, seriously?

Devait-il vraiment le faire, sérieux ?