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Necessity

Devoir (must/to have to) as well as the impersonal verb falloir (to be necessary) indicate necessity:

Nous devons travailler pour gagner un salaire.
(We must work to earn a salary.)

Il faut manger pour vivre.
(One must eat to live.)

Falloir and devoir often express the same idea, although falloir is stronger than devoir:

Au cinéma, il faut se taire.
(At the movies, one should not talk/must not talk.)

Au cinéma, vous devez vous taire.
(At the movies, you must not talk.)

When followed by a noun, falloir means to need:

Il nous faut du temps pour écrire ce roman.
(We need time to write this novel.)

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