Regarding the question ?How could you say "You need a new bike." ??
I think "devoir" would be acceptable as I perceived the possibility the person used the bike as a necessary form of transportation and the bike was either to broken to repair or was used for work. In that case they would really need to replace the bike making devoir acceptable.
Or maybe I'm just reading too much into the questionÉ
Christopher,
‘devoir’ alone (that is, not followed by a verb infinitive) never means ‘ need ‘. Devoir ‘ followed by a noun means ‘ owe ‘. Hence, ‘devoir NOUN’ cannot replace ‘ avoir besoin de NOUN ‘.
From the lesson :
ATTENTION:
Devoir [quelque chose] has a completely different meaning = to owe [something].
It can never mean to need [something].
If instead, you use devoir and add another verb to the phrase eg ‘ je dois acheter ..’, this would not be an accurate translation of the English sentence as it changes the meaning substantially.
Regarding the question ?How could you say "You need a new bike." ??
I think "devoir" would be acceptable as I perceived the possibility the person used the bike as a necessary form of transportation and the bike was either to broken to repair or was used for work. In that case they would really need to replace the bike making devoir acceptable.
Or maybe I'm just reading too much into the questionÉ
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