Learn French: Elles doivent imprimer beaucoup de documents. - They have to print a lot of documents.

Elles doivent imprimer beaucoup de documents.

They have to print a lot of documents.

Breakdown of Elles doivent imprimer beaucoup de documents.

Questions & Answers about Elles doivent imprimer beaucoup de documents.

The translation says "They have to print", but doesn't devoir mean "must"?

Yes! In French, the verb devoir covers both "must" and "to have to". You can translate elles doivent as "they must" or "they have to"—the meaning is exactly the same in French.

How do you pronounce doivent? Do I say the -ent at the end?

No, you don't. When a French verb is conjugated for ils or elles, the -ent ending is always completely silent. You pronounce doivent roughly like "dwav".

Why is imprimer (to print) left in its dictionary form instead of being conjugated?

When two verbs go together in French, only the first one is conjugated. The first verb here is doivent (have to), so the second verb imprimer stays in its infinitive (unchanged dictionary) form. It works just like English: "They have to print".

Since documents is plural, shouldn't it be beaucoup des documents?

This is a very common trap! The phrase beaucoup de (a lot of) is a fixed expression of quantity. When you use a quantity expression like this, the de never changes to des, even if the noun that follows is plural.