je devais vs j'ai du I was just wondering when do you use "je devais" as opposed to "j'ai du". From what I know they both mean "had to do".

Andrew Chung

Aug 9, 2014 12:18 AM

Answers · 8

"je devais" is not the past really. It means "I had to but..." (Something prevented you to do it). So technically it means "I was supposed to". "J'ai dû" is "I had to (and I did it)".

August 9, 2014

They are both past tenses. The first one, however, relates to something that has already happened but may not have stopped occurring or occurred for an undefined period of time. The second one is a concluded action.

August 9, 2014

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