Breakdown of D'abord, vous devez réparer la table.
la table
the table
vous
you (plural/formal)
devoir
to have to / must
d'abord
first, first of all
réparer
to repair
Questions & Answers about D'abord, vous devez réparer la table.
Why is there an apostrophe in d'abord, and where do we place it in a sentence?
D'abord comes from de + abord (literally "at first"). When giving instructions or telling a story, it almost always goes at the very beginning of the sentence, usually followed by a comma, just like "First," in English.
I've learned the word premièrement. Can I use it instead of d'abord here?
Why is réparer not conjugated to match vous?
Because it immediately follows the conjugated verb devez (must / have to). The rule in French is that when two verbs are used together like this, only the first one gets conjugated. The second verb stays in its infinitive (dictionary) form.
How would this sentence change if I were speaking to a close friend?
You would use the informal "you" (tu) instead of vous, which means you also have to change the conjugation of the verb devoir. The sentence becomes: D'abord, tu dois réparer la table.
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