French: devoir and boire

Self-tutoring about French verbs: the tutor compares two French verbs in present indicative.

The following is according to my understanding.

Devoir (to have to) and boire (to drink) are both strongly irregular verbs in French. Yet, it occurred to me that perhaps they are irregular in a similar way. (See my post on dire and lire for a little background about this way of thinking.)

Boire and devoir rhyme (to me, anyway), but really don’t have much other reason to be alike: boire is -re, while devoir is -ir. Yet, in the present indicative, they have some obvious similarities. Moreover, the way they are different might even help one with remembering them.

Boire and devoir, present indicative, share the same pattern in all but two ways: nous buvons but nous devons, and vous buvez but vous devez.

There are a couple of curiosities:

1. The v found in nous buvons and vous buvez, given that boire itself has no v.
2. The u in both those, for a similar reason.

For the record, boire: je bois, tu bois, il/elle boit, nous buvons, vous buvez, ils/elles boivent.

Devoir: je dois, tu dois, il/elle doit, nous devons, vous devez, ils/elles doivent.

Source:

Kenney, M., Burville, V., Hickox, B., Hill, J., Potter, C. (1977). Passeport Français 8: Bonne Chance! D.C. Heath Canada Ltd.