Deviez (en. Had to)

/dəvjɛ/

Meaning & Definition

EnglishFrench

verb

Indicate an obligation in the past within the conditional speech.

If you were there, you should have heard it.

Si vous étiez là, vous deviez l'entendre.

Express a possibility or assumption in the past.

He said that you were supposed to come to the party.

Il disait que vous deviez venir à la fête.

Indicate an obligation or necessity that should have been fulfilled.

You were supposed to finish your report before the meeting.

Vous deviez finir votre rapport avant la réunion.

The verb 'devoir' comes from the Latin 'debere', which means 'to be obliged to'.

you were supposed to be there

this indicates an obligation to be present.

vous deviez être là

you were supposed to know it

implies that the information was necessary or expected.

vous deviez le savoir

you were supposed to work harder

suggests that a greater effort was required.

vous deviez travailler plus dur

duty

verb meaning to have the obligation to do something.

devoir

must

past and subjunctive form of the verb devoir.

dût

must

present tense third person singular form of the verb devoir.

doit

a familiar way of saying what was expected of someone

Oh, you were supposed to do it today!

Oh, tu devais le faire aujourd'hui !

humorous way to remind of an unkept promise

You forgot again, as usual, right? You were supposed to!

T'as encore oublié, comme d'habitude, non ? Tu devais !