devoir at C2 — literary & formal
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Schedules, contracts and what is owed.
Devoir in official prose
In newspapers, devoir rarely means duty. « Le président doit recevoir son homologue mardi » announces a fixed schedule: he is due to. Read it as a plan, not an obligation, and you will stop misreading French headlines. The same value appears in reports and minutes: « la réunion devait se tenir en juin » — the meeting was to be held in June, and often was not.
Law keeps the old past participle alive in « en bonne et due forme » — properly executed, with every signature in place. Its adverb « dûment » stamps administrative French: « dûment rempli », « dûment complété ». And « redevable », built straight on devoir, means indebted or liable: « redevable de la taxe » on a form, « je vous suis redevable » for a favour you mean to repay.
💡 Focus at this level: Formal — en bonne et due forme, être redevable de
👨🏫 How to use « devoir » at this level
1. « Doit se rendre » = is due to travel. The press future.
2. « En bonne et due forme » = in due form. Contracts and law.
3. « Redevable de » = indebted or liable for. Admin and thanks.
🔊 Example sentences
✍️ Practice
« Le train doit partir à huit heures. » Obligation or timetable?
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Timetable — in notices and the press, devoir marks a scheduled event: the train is due to leave at eight.
Which is administrative: « bien rempli » or « dûment rempli » ?
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« Dûment rempli » — the adverb built on devoir is standard in forms and legal notices.
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🧩 Sentence builder put the words in the right order