Learn French: Est-ce que je dois écrire le rapport maintenant ?

Est-ce que je dois écrire le rapport maintenant ?

Do I have to write the report now?

Breakdown of Est-ce que je dois écrire le rapport maintenant ?

maintenant

now

est-ce que

is it that / do / does (question marker)

devoir

to have to / must

Questions & Answers about Est-ce que je dois écrire le rapport maintenant ?

Why is écrire not conjugated here?

In French, when you have two verbs right next to each other, only the first one is conjugated. Here, dois is the conjugated form of devoir (to have to), so the second verb, écrire (to write), stays in its original dictionary form (the infinitive).

Does je dois mean 'I must' or 'I have to'?

It means both! French uses the single verb devoir for both concepts. In English, we say 'Do I have to write...' because 'Do I must write...' is grammatically incorrect, but in French, Est-ce que je dois covers both meanings perfectly.

What exactly does Est-ce que do in this sentence?

Est-ce que is a handy phrase used to turn a regular statement into a yes/no question. If you take it away, you are left with the statement Je dois écrire le rapport maintenant (I have to write the report now). Adding Est-ce que to the front simply asks if that statement is true.

Why don't we shorten que or je with an apostrophe here?

You only drop the e to make contractions like qu' or j' when the following word starts with a vowel or a silent h. Here, que is followed by je (which starts with a consonant), and je is followed by dois (which also starts with a consonant), so no letters are dropped.