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Nous avons besoin d'un instrument pour jouer ce soir.

Nous avons besoin d'un instrument pour jouer ce soir.
We need an instrument to play tonight.
From Lesson 98:Ongoing duration (depuis)·French

Questions & Answers about Nous avons besoin d'un instrument pour jouer ce soir.

Why does the sentence use avons besoin d'un instead of a single verb for "need"?
In French, there is no direct, everyday verb for "to need." Instead, you use the expression avoir besoin de, which literally means "to have need of." Because of this, "we need" is translated as nous avons besoin de.
Why is it d'un instrument and not de un instrument?
The preposition de must drop its "e" and take an apostrophe whenever the word directly following it starts with a vowel or a silent "h". Since un starts with a vowel, de un combines to become d'un.
Why do we need pour before jouer if jouer already means "to play"?
When you express the purpose of an action or state why you need something, French uses pour followed by the infinitive verb to mean "in order to." While English often just uses "to" (an instrument to play), French requires pour jouer (an instrument in order to play).
Does ce soir literally mean "this evening"?
Yes! The word ce is a demonstrative adjective meaning "this," and soir means "evening." French speakers use this exact phrase where English speakers would normally say "tonight."

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