J'ai besoin de pain.

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Breakdown of J'ai besoin de pain.

• le pain: the bread
• de: of
• avoir besoin: to have need

Questions & Answers about J'ai besoin de pain.

Why do we say J’ai instead of Je?

In French, the expression J’ai besoin de... literally translates to I have need of.... The verb avoir (to have) is used here, so you must write J’ai (short for Je ai) rather than just Je.

Why is de included before pain?

In French, avoir besoin is always followed by de. Think of it as to have need of. The preposition de is needed to introduce whatever you need—here, it’s pain (bread).

Could I say J’ai besoin du pain instead of J’ai besoin de pain?

You can say J’ai besoin du pain, but it implies a specific bread you have in mind (like the bread on the table). J’ai besoin de pain is more general and simply means I need some bread.

Does pain in French mean the same as pain in English (as in physical discomfort)?

No, they are false friends. The French word pain means bread in English. It is not related to the English word pain (which means physical suffering).

Is there a reason why pain doesn’t use an article like un or le?

When you want an unspecified quantity of something in French, you usually leave out an article and rely on de or du (for mass nouns or unspecified amounts). So J’ai besoin de pain means you need bread in general, without specifying a particular loaf or amount.