ought in the Oxford-Hachette French Dictionary

Translations for ought in the English»French Dictionary

ought [Brit ɔːt, Am ɔt] VB mod In virtually all cases, ought is translated by the conditional tense of devoir: you ought to go now = tu devrais partir maintenant; they ought to arrive tomorrow ils devraient arriver demain.
The past ought to have done/seen etc. is translated by the past conditional of devoir: he ought to have been more polite = il aurait dû être plus poli. For further examples, including negative sentences, see the entry below.
The French verb devoir is irregular. For its conjugation see the French verb tables.

1. ought (expressing probability, expectation):

that ought to fix it

ça devrait arranger les choses

things ought to improve by next week

la situation devrait s'améliorer d'ici la semaine prochaine

the train ought not to have left yet

le train ne devrait pas encore être parti

he ought to be back by now

il devrait être rentré depuis longtemps maintenant

2. ought (making polite but firm suggestion):

oughtn't we to consult them first?

ne devrions-nous pas les consulter d'abord?

you ought to be in bed

tu devrais être au lit

she ought to see a doctor

elle devrait consulter un médecin

3. ought (indicating moral obligation):

we really ought to say something

nous devrions vraiment dire quelque chose

you ought not to say things like that

tu ne devrais pas dire des choses pareilles

someone ought to have accompanied her

quelqu'un aurait dû l'accompagner

I ought not to have been so direct

je n'aurais pas dû être aussi direct

he felt he ought not to be wasting time

il se disait qu'il n'avait pas de temps à perdre

4. ought (when prefacing important point):

I ought to say perhaps that …

je devrais peut-être préciser que …

I think you ought to know that …

je pense qu'il vaudrait mieux que tu saches que …

Your search term in other parts of the dictionary

we ought to have a get-together

il faudrait qu'on organise quelque chose pour se voir

he especially ought to be told

lui surtout devrait être informé

you ought to be ashamed of yourself

tu devrais avoir honte

you really ought to have ironed them

tu aurais vraiment dû les repasser

there ought to be a law against it

ça devrait être interdit

Translations for ought in the French»English Dictionary

Your search term in other parts of the dictionary

il est bon à interner hum

he ought to be locked away in a loony bin inf

il convient de faire

one should do ou ought to do

il convient que vous fassiez

you should do, you ought to do

c'est un livre à lire/qu'il faut lire

it's a book worth reading/one ought to read

il devrait avoir honte de son incompétence/d'exploiter les touristes

he ought to be ashamed of his incompetence/of exploiting tourists

ought in the PONS Dictionary

Translations for ought in the English»French Dictionary

ought [ɔ:t, Am ɑ:t] VB aux

1. ought (have as a duty, should):

he ought to tell her

il devrait lui dire

2. ought (had better):

we ought to do something

il vaudrait mieux que nous fassions qc +subj

3. ought (be wise or advisable):

you ought not to do that

tu ne devrais pas faire cela

ought Examples from the PONS Dictionary (editorially verified)

he ought to tell her

il devrait lui dire

we ought to do something

il vaudrait mieux que nous fassions qc +subj

you ought not to do that

tu ne devrais pas faire cela

Monolingual examples (not verified by PONS Editors)

English

It consists of students who ought to serve the student body by promoting the common good in the principle of subsidiarity.

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In other words a positive balance of trade ought to be maintained via a surplus of exports, often backed by military might.

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He ought to have enquired more carefully into the nature of the incident, but made the fatal mistake of treating it as trivial.

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There ought to be an idea behind every painting.

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Baker remonstrated; he thought their case was hard, and that they ought to be allowed to go home.

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It occurred to me that abjuration was the school of magic manipulating magic (for example, dispel magic)... which means that abjurers really ought to be the nastiest spell-duelists out there.

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You ought to know that there is a possibility of such letters being dragged out some day.

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It says that all maxims which stem from autonomous legislation ought to harmonize with a possible realm of ends as with a realm of nature.

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They use concepts such as morally ought, morally obligated, morally right, and so forth that are legalistic and require a legislator as the source of moral authority.

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I think we ought to be tolerant people.

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