dever
Portuguese, noun/deˈve(ʁ)/
dever is spelled D-E-V-E-R (5 letters) and appears 29 times per million words in written Portuguese, the 3,069th most frequent Portuguese word form (wordfreq, 2021 data). Dever is a Portuguese masculine noun meaning “duty (that which one is morally or legally obligated to do)” (English Wiktionary, September 2026). The Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) defines it as “obrigação”.
What does dever mean in English?
verb
- 1
should (indicates that an action is considered by the speaker to be obligatory)
- 2
ought (indicates that the subject of the sentence has some obligation to execute the sentence predicate.)
- 3
will likely (indicates that the subject of the sentence is likely to execute the sentence predicate.)
Deve chover.
- 4
owe (to be in debt.)
noun
- 1
masculineduty (that which one is morally or legally obligated to do)
- 2
datedmasculinehomework
Já fizeste os teus deveres?
Source: English Wiktionary, Portuguese section, dump of September 2, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0).
How Portuguese dictionaries define it
noun: 1. obrigação
verb: 1. ter que, precisar 2. indica probabilidade 3. estar em dívida com alguém
The definition in the Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário), in Portuguese.
Source: Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário), dump of September 1, 2026 (CC BY-SA 4.0), through kaikki.org.
Forms of dever
- devo first-person present singular
- devi first-person preterite singular
- devido participle past
- deveres infinitive second-person singular
- devermos first-person infinitive plural
- deverdes infinitive plural second-person
- deverem infinitive plural third-person
- devendo gerund
- devidos masculine participle past
- devida feminine participle past
- devidas feminine participle past
- deves indicative present second-person
- deve indicative present singular
- devemos first-person indicative plural
- deveis indicative plural present
- devem indicative plural present
- devia first-person imperfect indicative
- devias imperfect indicative second-person
Source: English Wiktionary and Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026).
How do you pronounce dever?
- Brazil /deˈve(ʁ)/
- Brazil [deˈve(h)]
- /deˈve(ɾ)/
Sources: English Wiktionary, Portuguese Wiktionary (Wikcionário) (dumps of September 2, 2026 and September 1, 2026); recordings from Wikimedia Commons.
English words that translate to dever
Source: the translation tables of the English Wiktionary, dump of September 2, 2026.
How common is dever in Portuguese?
dever appears 29 times per million words in written Portuguese.
Source: written frequency: wordfreq 3.1 (a 2021 snapshot of Wikipedia, subtitles, news, books, web text and social media).