3

I am stuck in a situtation where I google the methods of saying such sentence. I end up finding two possible most common solutions for this, which would be

Je avoir à étude

and

Je dois étudier.

I'm really new to French, have been searching for the basics all around but couldn't find a definite answer yet.

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  • 1
    seule la seconde proposition je dois étudier est correcte – Adri Dev Dec 18 '18 at 19:09
  • I'm surprised "Je avoir à étude" shows as a common solution at all as it is simply a very word-to-word but also very wrong translation of "I have to study" – Laurent S. Dec 20 '18 at 12:00
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  • “I have to study” => Je dois étudier. or J'ai à étudier.
  • “I need to study” => J'ai besoin d'étudier.

"Je avoir à étude" corresponds to nothing1 (2 errors); "je" is a personal pronoun, therefore there must be a conjugated verb form after it, never an infinitive.
It is apparent that the verb in question is "avoir" when its sens is "have to"; "to" is rendered by "à", but just as in English that must be followed by an infinitive, never a noun: "I have to go. => J'ai à m'en aller.".

1More exactly, it is meaningless

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    "Je avoir à étude" does correspond to something-- it corresponds to "I to have to a study," approximately. – temporary_user_name Dec 18 '18 at 21:58
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    Well, yes, literally, it corresponds "I to have to the study" and that is nothing meaningful! Do you have something meaningful in mind? Probably not , I guess it' just a matter of absoluteness… – LPH Dec 18 '18 at 22:07
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In addition to je dois étudier, another common and idiomatic way to say it is :

Il faut que j'étudie.

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  • What about il me faut étudier? – iBug Dec 19 '18 at 16:55
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    @iBug It's correct but quite formal. – jlliagre Dec 19 '18 at 16:58
  • Ça ne serait pas si formel que l'on puisse croire d'après moi ; voyons par exemple ceci : « Il me faut faire des drôles d'efforts pour m'intéresser aux copains. Facilement je les perdrais de vue. Je suis préoccupé (CÉLINE, Mort à crédit) ». Il n'y a rien de plus familier que « copain ». – LPH Dec 20 '18 at 6:23
  • @LPH Non. La forme il me faut + infinitif est de registre soutenu (même pour l'Académie française), sauf parfois encore dans le midi sous l'influence d'un substrat occitan (Me fau anar a Bordeu : Il faut que j'aille à Bordeaux). Voir forum.wordreference.com/threads/… or – jlliagre Dec 20 '18 at 8:33
  • Oui, formel ici, à l'Académie, c'est à dire de par une certaine littérature dominante, et dans le parler du nord, et pas formel ailleurs, c'est à dire dans le midi et selon le point de vue de Céline; après avoir été confronté à tout cela, au français en somme, on a « formel et pas formel ». – LPH Dec 20 '18 at 8:44
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Additionally,

J'ai besoin d'étudier

is also common, but maybe less so.

Je avoir a etude

is plain unintelligible. A better phrase would be

Je dois étudier

as others have stated.

"Apprendre" can sometimes be substituted here, as long as "to learn" would be equivalent.

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