Vous devez dire toute la vérité.

Questions & Answers about Vous devez dire toute la vérité.

Why do we need la after toute?
In French, when you use the adjective tout to mean 'all' or 'the whole', it is almost always followed by a definite article (le, la, les). You cannot just say toute vérité to mean 'the whole truth'.
Why is tout spelled with an 'e' at the end here?
Tout must match the gender and number of the noun it describes. Because vérité (truth) is a feminine singular noun, the masculine singular tout changes to the feminine singular toute.
Does toute la vérité mean 'all the truth' or 'the whole truth'?
It translates perfectly to both! In French, tout combined with a singular noun often translates to 'the whole' in English. For example, toute la journée means 'the whole day'.
Why isn't the verb dire conjugated?
When you have two verbs back-to-back, the second verb stays in its infinitive (dictionary) form. Since devez (must) is already conjugated to match Vous, dire (to tell) remains unconjugated.

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