Devez

Devez is the second-person plural present indicative form of the French verb devoir, meaning you must or you have to. It appears in sentences directed at “you” in formal or plural address: vous devez, and the spelling devez is the same as the verb’s regular present form for this subject.

Devoir is an irregular, primarily modal verb. Its present tense forms differ from most verbs: je dois, tu dois, il doit, nous devons, vous devez, ils doivent. The verb comes from Latin debēre, with related forms in other Romance languages. As a verb, devoir expresses obligation, necessity, or duty, rather than a simple factual statement.

Usage and nuance: vous devez + [infinitive] commonly indicates obligation imposed by the speaker, a general rule, or a recommendation framed as a duty. It can also convey expectation: “You are supposed to…” In negative form, vous ne devez pas conveys prohibition or advice against doing something. Devoir can also appear in subordinate clauses with the subjunctive: il faut que vous deviez faire cela, though the more standard construction is il faut que vous fassiez ou que vous deviez faire cela depending on context. In past contexts, vous avez dû expresses a guessed or deduced obligation in the past rather than a present duty.

Related uses include devoir as a noun, meaning duty or homework, and the idiomatic expression devoir quelque chose à quelqu’un (to owe something to someone). The term is widely used in education, law, employment, and everyday advice in French, and understanding devez requires recognizing it as a form of a highly common, irregular modal verb.