Breakdown of Je dois changer le pansement ce soir.
Questions & Answers about Je dois changer le pansement ce soir.
In French, devoir (to have to / must) is followed directly by an infinitive, with no preposition in between:
- Je dois changer. – I have to change.
- Je dois partir. – I have to leave.
- Je dois étudier. – I have to study.
So the correct structure is:
subject + conjugated devoir + infinitive
Adding a preposition (à, de, etc.) after devoir here would be wrong:
- ❌ je dois à changer
- ❌ je dois de changer
Because devoir is conjugated differently for each subject. In the present tense:
- je dois – I must / I have to
- tu dois – you must
- il / elle / on doit – he / she / one must
- nous devons
- vous devez
- ils / elles doivent
Since the subject is je, you must use dois, not doit:
- Je dois changer le pansement ce soir. ✅
- Je doit changer le pansement ce soir. ❌
Je dois can cover all of these ideas, depending on context, but it usually expresses a real obligation:
- I have to / I must change the bandage tonight.
→ There is an obligation (doctor’s orders, medical routine, etc.).
It can sometimes be softer, like “I’m supposed to”:
- Je dois changer le pansement ce soir.
→ That’s what I’m supposed to do; that’s the plan.
For a gentler “should”, French often uses je devrais (conditional):
- Je devrais changer le pansement ce soir.
→ I should change the bandage tonight (it would be a good idea).
Using le (the definite article) means we are talking about a specific bandage that both speaker and listener know about—typically the one that is already on the wound.
- Je dois changer le pansement ce soir.
→ I have to change the (existing, known) bandage tonight.
Using un pansement would sound more like:
- “I have to put a bandage on tonight” (not clearly linked to an existing one),
- or “I have to apply a bandage” (more about adding, not replacing).
So:
- changer le pansement = change the current dressing/bandage
- mettre un pansement = put on a (new) bandage
You can say both:
- Je dois changer le pansement ce soir.
- Je dois changer mon pansement ce soir.
Both are grammatically correct. The nuance:
le pansement
– Very common in medical or neutral contexts.
– Focuses on the specific bandage already on you.
– Similar to how French often uses definite articles with things closely linked to the body (se laver les mains = wash your hands).mon pansement
– Explicitly marks that it’s my bandage.
– Slightly more personal/possessive, but perfectly fine.
In practice, le pansement is very natural when talking about a dressing that’s already there.
Un pansement is a general medical term for something you use to cover and protect a wound. It can correspond to:
- a bandage
- an adhesive bandage / Band-Aid / plaster
- a dressing (gauze pad, sterile dressing, etc.)
Context (and sometimes adjectives) make it more precise:
- un pansement adhésif – an adhesive bandage / plaster
- un pansement stérile – a sterile dressing
- un pansement compressif – a pressure dressing
In your sentence, le pansement most naturally means the dressing / the bandage that’s already on the wound.
Yes, both positions are correct; the difference is emphasis.
Je dois changer le pansement ce soir.
→ Neutral order. Information focus: what has to be done; when is just added at the end.Ce soir, je dois changer le pansement.
→ Emphasis on tonight. Maybe you’re contrasting with other times: > Not this morning, not tomorrow—*tonight I have to change it.*
French time expressions like ce soir, demain, hier, etc. often go:
- at the end of the sentence, or
- at the beginning for emphasis, followed by a comma.
You’d most naturally say:
- Il faut que je change le pansement ce soir.
Here:
- il faut que
- subjunctive (je change) expresses necessity/obligation,
- meaning: “I have to / must change the bandage tonight.”
Structure: > il faut que + subject + verb in the subjunctive
Compare:
- Je dois changer le pansement ce soir.
- Il faut que je change le pansement ce soir.
Both are very common; il faut que sounds slightly more impersonal/formal.
You say:
- Je dois le changer ce soir. ✅
In this sentence:
- le is the direct object pronoun replacing le pansement,
- with verbs like devoir + infinitive, the pronoun normally goes just before the infinitive:
subject + conjugated devoir + pronoun + infinitive
Je dois le changer.
Be careful:
- Je le dois on its own means “I owe it”, not “I must change it.”
So:- Je dois le changer. = I have to change it. ✅
- Je le dois changer. ❌ (ungrammatical here)
Approximate IPA: [ʒə dwa ʃɑ̃ʒe lə pɑ̃smɑ̃ sə swaʁ]
Key points:
- Je → [ʒə], like “zhuh” (the “j” sound as in measure).
- dois → [dwa], sounds like “dwa”; final -s is silent.
- changer → [ʃɑ̃ʒe]
- ch → [ʃ], like “sh” in she.
- an → nasal vowel [ɑ̃], not “an” + “n”.
- -er at the end → [e], like “ay”.
- pansement → [pɑ̃smɑ̃]
- again, an = [ɑ̃] (nasal).
- final -t is silent.
- ce → [sə], like “suh”.
- soir → [swaʁ], roughly “swahr”; the r is the French guttural /ʁ/.
Spoken smoothly, it flows as: > [ʒə dwa ʃɑ̃ʒe lə pɑ̃smɑ̃ sə swaʁ]
You’d say:
- Je ne dois pas changer le pansement ce soir.
This usually means:
- I don’t have to change the bandage tonight (there’s no obligation).
Learners sometimes worry it might mean “I must not”, but in standard usage:
- ne pas devoir ≈ not have to / don’t need to
- ne pas falloir or a stronger context is used for must not / it is forbidden:
- Il ne faut pas changer le pansement ce soir.
→ You must not change the bandage tonight.
- Il ne faut pas changer le pansement ce soir.
A few very natural variants are:
Je dois refaire le pansement ce soir.
→ Literally “I have to do the bandage again tonight.”
→ Very common in medical contexts: refaire un pansement = change / redo the dressing.Ce soir, je dois refaire le pansement.
→ Same meaning, emphasis on tonight.Il faut que je refasse le pansement ce soir.
→ Using il faut que- subjunctive (refasse).
All of these are good, idiomatic ways to say that you need to change the bandage/dressing tonight.