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cosmic hollowBOT
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Please be patient

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rain bay
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For example
I got to go to the dentist

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I have to sleep

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I know falloir is need and devoir is you must

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Mais sometimes i see "je dois aller"

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In apparently the sense of need

sweet crow
storm spoke
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Devoir seems to have more of a personal connotation where as falloir is more of an external responsability.

For example, if I say
« je dois partir », the nuance is that I must go because I have decided I must go. For whatever reason.

But when I say
« il faut que je parte », the nuance is more that there is an external force that is making me leave. I have an obligation.

It is difficult for me to explain.

For example, if I am at the supermarket and the employee tell me they are closing, I would say « il faut que j'y aille, alors? », because it is an external situation that is making it necessary to leave.

Take for example, this phrase:

Il faut travailler dur pour réussir.

We use falloir here because the obligation is external. That is the way the world works, therefore, it is necessary for you to work hard to succeed.

Notice how falloir is impersonal and is always conjugated as il faut -- he (it) makes it necessary

On the other hand, devoir is personal. Je dois faire quelque chose.

Je dois faire mes devoirs.
Tu dois rendre ton travail.
Elle doit étudier pour son examen.

All of these are personal responsabilities that we ourselves have taken on.

Whereas

Il faut manger pour vivre.
Il faut être prudent en traversant la rue.
etc

These are external forces that make it a necessity. You have no control over the way your body works. You must eat, or you'll die.

Same with the street. You have no control over the traffic. The traffic makes it necessary for you to be careful.

rain bay
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Hehe merci

storm spoke
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@rain bay I'm sorry, that probably doesn't make much sense 😅

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these are just my personal thoughts

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the truth may vary

rain bay
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First sentences in and i understand you perfectly

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These were my own suspicions too based on recollections of what my teacher said

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I know exactly what you mean. Je dois = somebody or myself require myself to do something

Il faut que je = it is necessary that (I go, I eat, I sleep, I drive [because of the distance], I don't drive [due to the snow].

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It's pretty similar to "moeten" in dutch. Moeten = must but often it's used with a weaker connotation than must.

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"Ik moet je spreken" = il faut que je te parle

storm spoke
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Also, you will also see devrais / devrait. This just means should and is used in the same way it is in English.

J'ai faim, donc je devrais manger.
I'm hungry, so I should eat.

rain bay
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Je vois

storm spoke
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Tu es fatigué(e)? Tu devrais essayer de dormir.
You're tired? You should try to sleep.

storm spoke
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I don't speak a word of néerlandais but I think you got it

rain bay
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There you go!!

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Thanks!

storm spoke
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No worries 🙂

rain bay
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Alors je vais dormir 🫠

storm spoke
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Oui, il est tard donc il faut que tu dormes afin de pouvoir bien travailler demain!

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Bonne nuit, dors bien.

rain bay
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Merci merci 🙌

bitter valley
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I'd say that devoir adds a slight flavor of it being your duty (eg. what you're expected to do), whereas falloir is more of an actual need (eg. you'll die if you don't do it: not always as extreme of course, but this is the idea).

Still the nuance is not that marked, and in many cases they are interchangeable. I would say falloir is perhaps slightly more common than devoir when expressing a neutral "must", but not by much in any case: sentences like "j'dois y aller" and "Faut qu'j'y aille" sound equally as natural to me

storm spoke