Elle sera ...

1] She must go home.
The above is an order. There is no guessing here.

2] She must be ill today.
She didn't come to work and we guess she fell ill. Maybe swine flu!
Though we use the word 'must' the business of guessing entails in the second sentence.

Elle sera malade.
Do you translate the second sentence into French the way I did?
The funny thing is the word 'sera' means some future action.

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Permalink Reply by Frank on November 15, 2009 at 9:05pm

The second one should be: Elle doit être malade

and the first one is Elle doit rentrer chez elle.

Uh? "doit" in both cases? Yes. The context is enough to understand what "doit" means.

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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on November 15, 2009 at 9:16pm

Thanks Frank

Elle doit rentrer chez elle.
Does the above mean that you are guessing?

Another example
If I don't see you here for a couple of days, I could say one of the following:

3. Frank must be away from home and doesn't have an access to the Internet.

4. Frank must be ill nowadays.
Both of the above means that I am guessing.
Though I use the words 'must be' it belongs to the game of guessing in this context.

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Permalink Reply by Frank on November 15, 2009 at 9:20pm

Elle doit rentrer chez elle.
Does the above mean that you are guessing?

Yes. If you and the person you are talking to, don't know exactly where she is, it's obvious that it's not an order, but a guess.
If you were talking about her illness and the fact that she was still working while, according to you, she shouldn't, it's obvious that it's an order.

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Permalink Reply by Frank on November 15, 2009 at 9:21pm

3. Frank must be away from home and doesn't have an access to the Internet.

Frank doit être loin de chez lui.

4. Frank must be ill nowadays.

Frank doit être malade.

In thoses cases, "doit" rather means "might", though.

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Permalink Reply by Crack1 on November 15, 2009 at 9:47pm

So the French verb 'devoir' is rather a lose one like its English counterpart 'must'

Je lui dois de la argent.
I owe him some money.
[ There is no guessing in the above English sentence. I have an obligation to pay him some money because I borrowed some.]

Je dois Frank de la argent. { Hope this is fine!}
I owe Frank some money.

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Permalink Reply by Frank on November 15, 2009 at 9:49pm

Almost: Je dois de l'argent à Frank - Je lui dois de l'argent.

Indeed, "devoir" is a very common and versatile verb.