What does dovere in Italian mean?

What is the meaning of the word dovere in Italian? The article explains the full meaning, pronunciation along with bilingual examples and instructions on how to use dovere in Italian.

The word dovere in Italian means must, have to, must, need to, have to, should be, must be, owe, duty, obligation, properly, responsible party, have to get up, must get up, sense of duty, feel obliged to, feel obliged to do something, feel compelled to do something. To learn more, please see the details below.

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Meaning of the word dovere

must

verbo transitivo o transitivo pronominale (essere obbligati a)

(auxiliary verb: Helping verb--for example, "She is running." "It has been lost.")
Per passare la dogana dobbiamo mostrare i documenti.
I must give him an answer.

have to, must

verbo transitivo o transitivo pronominale (essere necessario)

(auxiliary verb: Helping verb--for example, "She is running." "It has been lost.")
Dobbiamo pensare rapidamente a una soluzione.
We have to think of a solution quickly.

need to, have to

verbo transitivo o transitivo pronominale (avere bisogno di fare [qc])

(auxiliary verb: Helping verb--for example, "She is running." "It has been lost.")
Devo comprare qualcosa da mangiare.
I need to (or: have to) buy something to eat.

should be

verbo transitivo o transitivo pronominale (accingersi a fare [qc])

(auxiliary verb: Helping verb--for example, "She is running." "It has been lost.")
Adesso dobbiamo andare.
We should be going.

must be

verbo transitivo o transitivo pronominale (essere possibile, probabile)

(auxiliary verb: Helping verb--for example, "She is running." "It has been lost.")
Non so la lunghezza precisa del tavolo, ma questa tovaglia dovrebbe andare bene.
I don't know the exact length of the table, but this table cloth must be long enough.

owe

verbo transitivo o transitivo pronominale (anche figurato (essere debitore di [qc])

(transitive verb: Verb taking a direct object--for example, "Say something." "She found the cat.")
Mi devi ancora i cento euro che ti avevo prestato! Devo tutta la mia carriera a Giovanna che mi ha sempre sostenuto.
You still owe me the hundred euro I lent you! I owe my entire career to Giovanna who always supported me.

duty, obligation

sostantivo maschile (obbligo morale o giuridico)

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)
È un tuo dovere prenderti cura di tua nonna. Difendere la patria è un dovere di ogni cittadino.
It's your duty (or: obligation) to take care of your grandmother. Defending the fatherland is the duty (or: obligation) of every citizen.

properly

avverbio

(adjective: Describes a noun or pronoun--for example, "a tall girl," "an interesting book," "a big house.")

responsible party

(noun: Refers to person, place, thing, quality, etc.)

have to get up, must get up

(verbal expression: Phrase with special meaning functioning as verb--for example, "put their heads together," "come to an end.")

sense of duty

feel obliged to

feel obliged to do something, feel compelled to do something

verbo riflessivo o intransitivo pronominale (sentirsi in obbligo)

Dopo tutti i favori che mi ha fatto, mi sono sentita in dovere di invitarla a cena.
After all the favours he did for me, I felt obliged to invite him to dinner.

Let's learn Italian

So now that you know more about the meaning of dovere in Italian, you can learn how to use them through selected examples and how to read them. And remember to learn the related words that we suggest. Our website is constantly updating with new words and new examples so you can look up the meanings of other words you don't know in Italian.

Do you know about Italian

Italian (italiano) is a Romance language and is spoken by about 70 million people, most of whom live in Italy. Italian uses the Latin alphabet. The letters J, K, W, X and Y do not exist in the standard Italian alphabet, but they still appear in loanwords from Italian. Italian is the second most widely spoken in the European Union with 67 million speakers (15% of the EU population) and it is spoken as a second language by 13.4 million EU citizens (3%). Italian is the principal working language of the Holy See, serving as the lingua franca in the Roman Catholic hierarchy. An important event that helped to the spread of Italian was Napoleon's conquest and occupation of Italy in the early 19th century. This conquest spurred the unification of Italy several decades later and pushed the language of the Italian language. Italian became a language used not only among secretaries, aristocrats and the Italian courts, but also by the bourgeoisie.