Avoir besoin de = To need (French Expressions with avoir)

Written by Qualified French Expert Aurélie Drouard HKH, Licence d'anglais LLCE

Last updated: 2023-12-04

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To express a need in French you can use "avoir besoin de" (Literally: to have need of [something]).

How to use 'avoir besoin de' in French

avoir besoin de [quelque chose] = to need [something]

J'ai besoin de repos.I need rest.

Nous avons besoin de nos parents.We need our parents.

Guillaume a besoin d'un crayon bleu.Guillaume needs a blue pencil.

To express to need + [noun], you will use :

avoir besoin de/d' + (article) + noun

avoir besoin de [infinitif] = to need [to do]

Elle a besoin de faire ses devoirs.She needs to do her homework.

Est-ce que tu as besoin de manger quelque chose ?Do you need to eat something?

Alain a besoin d'aller aux toilettes !Alain needs to go to the toilet!

To express to need + [verb], you will use the infinitive form of the verb, as such:

avoir besoin de/d' + infinitive

In both cases, de becomes d' in front of a vowel or mute h.

To know when to use avoir besoin de, see Devoir vs Avoir besoin de to express "to need to" in French

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