devoir imparfait

Question

So if we use the conditionnel passé to translate 'should have' how do we use devoir in the imparfait?

Accepted Answer

Bonjour Paula!I think I understand what you're asking here.The verb devoir in L'Imparfait will usually be translated as "I had to" or "I was supposed to", as such:
Je devais l'appeler, mais je n'ai pas eu le temps.I was supposed to call him, but I didn't have time.Il devait absolument le faire ce jour-là.He absolutely had to do it that day.
I hope that's helpful!À bientôt !

Answer

Hi Paula,

"devoir" in the imparfait? Et voilà:

je devais,
tu devais,
il/elle/on devait,
nous devions,
vous deviez,
ils/elles devaient.

And since I am not entirely clear on what you mean by "how to we use devoir in the imparfait", here is an example:

I must clean my room. -- Je dois ranger ma chambre. (present tense)
I should clean my room. -- Je devrais ranger ma chambre. (conditionel présent)
I should have cleaned my room. -- J'aurais dû ranger ma chambre. (conditionel passé)

If that doesn't address your actual question, could you rephrase it again, please, because I am not sure I quite understand what you are asking.

-- Chris (not a native speaker).

Answer

Hi Aurélie,
The other day I found myself trying to say (verbally), by starting off 'Je devrais..', e.g. "I should do..", and stalling, having wanted to turn it into "I should have done" - I was probably doing along the lines of what the 6 May 2018 poster was thinking ('I must have had to..' rather than 'I would have had..').I think this lesson and your above response explains it.
To get the stupid question out of the way, there's no way 'Je devrais avoir eu' makes any sense, is there? (I'm guessing I was trying to construct the conditional past by combining conditional present and pluperfect).
Thanks!
Tom

Answer

Bonjour Tom !
This is definitely not the colloquial way to express Le Conditionnel Passé in French :)