Obligation and Necessity

Expressing Obligation and Necessity

Obligation and necessity in French
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When you have to do something, you require certain verbs and formulas. Here’s the French vocabulary and verbs you need to express obligation and necessity.

Verbs and Expressions + Subjunctive

avoir besoin que to need (s.o to do s.t)
demander que to ask that
exiger que to insist that
falloir que to be necessary that
Il est indispensable que It’s essential that
Il est nécessaire que It’s necessary that
Il est obligatoire que It’s mandatory that
Il faut que It’s necessary that
ordonner que to order that

Verbs and Expressions + Infinitive

avoir besoin de to need
avoir le devoir de1 to have the duty of
avoir le triste devoir de1 to have the sad duty of, to regret (that one has) to
devoir2 must, to have to, to be supposed to
être censé2 to be meant / supposed to
être dans l’obligation de to be under an obligation to
être de son devoir de3 to be one’s duty to
être forcé à to have to
être obligé de to have to, be obliged to
être tenu de to be under an obligation to
exiger de to insist on
falloir2 to be necessary to
Il est indispensable de It’s indispensable to
Il est nécessaire de It’s necessary to
Il est obligatoire de It’s mandatory to
Il me faut2, 3 I need to
Il m’incombe de1, 3 It falls to me to
Il revient à moi de3 It falls to me to
mettre quelqu’un dans la nécessité de to compel someone to
mettre quelqu’un dans l’obligation de to put ssomeone under an obligation to
ne pas pouvoir faire autrement que de to have no choice but to
obliger quelqu’un à  to require someone to
ordonner à quelqu’un de to order someone to
se trouver obligé de to have to, be obliged to
se voir contraint de1 to be compelled to
se voir dans l’obligation de1 to be obliged to

Notes

1 These expressions are very formal and are generally restricted to written French.

2 Note that these are not followed by a preposition in French.

Par exemple…

Tu dois manger quelque chose. You have to eat something.
Je suis censé partir demain.  I’m supposed to leave tomorrow.

3 The possessive adjective, indirect object, and stressed pronoun in these phrases can of course be changed for other people.

Par exemple…

Il est de mon devoir de … It’s my duty to …
Il vous faut … You need to …

Adjectives and Adverbs

absolument absolutely, really
essentiel essential
forcément necessarily
impératif imperative
impérativement imperatively
indispensable essential
nécessairement necessarily
obligatoire obligatory
requis required
vraiment truly

Miscellaneous Expressions

au besoin in case of necessity
bon gré mal gré whether you like it or not
bonnes pratiques dos and don’ts
choses à faire et à ne pas faire dos and don’ts
les désirs et les besoins wants and needs
en cas de besoin in case of necessity
manquer à ses engagements to fail to meet one’s obligations
manquer à ses obligations to fail to meet one’s obligations
ne t’en déplaise whether you like it or not
un produit de première nécessité basic necessity
respecter ses engagements to meet one’s obligations
respecter ses obligations to meet one’s obligations
sans engagement(advertising) without obligation

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