Breakdown of Pour l'ouverture, l'hôtel doit être impeccable.
être
to be
pour
for
l'hôtel
the hotel (m)
devoir
to have to / must
l'ouverture
the opening (f)
impeccable
spotless
Questions & Answers about Pour l'ouverture, l'hôtel doit être impeccable.
How would I use the current lesson's grammar to say 'the hotel must not be open yet'?
You would wrap ne and pas encore (not yet) around the conjugated verb, doit. To say 'the hotel must not be open yet', you would say l'hôtel ne doit pas encore être ouvert. Notice that the infinitive être stays outside the negative sandwich!
Could I use devrait instead of doit here?
You could, but it weakens the meaning. Doit (the present tense of devoir) means it 'must' or 'has to' be spotless. Devrait (the conditional tense) means it 'should' or 'ought to' be spotless. For an important event like an opening, doit expresses a much stronger requirement.
Why is être used in its full infinitive form here?
When you have a conjugated verb immediately followed by a second verb, the second verb stays in its dictionary (infinitive) form. Here, the modal verb doit (must) is conjugated, so être (to be) remains an infinitive.
Is impeccable used the exact same way as in English?
What verb does the noun ouverture (opening) come from?
It comes from ouvrir, which means 'to open'. You might also recognize the past participle ouvert (open), which shares the exact same root.
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