Word
Vous devez écrire le rapport.
Meaning
You have to write the report.
Part of speech
sentence
Pronunciation
Course
Lesson
Breakdown of Vous devez écrire le rapport.
vous
you (plural/formal)
devoir
to have to / must
écrire
to write
le rapport
the report
Questions & Answers about Vous devez écrire le rapport.
Why does the sentence use devez instead of devoir?
Devez is the matching form of the verb devoir (must / to have to) when used with vous. It is an irregular verb, so its present tense forms are: je dois, tu dois, il/elle doit, nous devons, vous devez, and ils/elles doivent.
Could this also translate to "You must write the report"?
Why isn't the verb écrire conjugated here?
In French, when two verbs are used together to express a single idea, only the first verb is conjugated. The second verb stays in its infinitive (unconjugated or dictionary) form. That is why the conjugated devez is followed immediately by the infinitive écrire (to write).