Speaking English - MUST, HAVE TO, HAVE GOT TO - Talking about Necessity

Hey, this is Alex, and welcome to this lesson on talking about necessity.

The word necessity basically means need, the need to do something.

So today we're going to talk about a couple of different expressions to use when you need

to do something, okay, or when you don't need to do something.

So today we're going to look at have to, have got to, and must, okay.

So the first two, have got, sorry, have got to, and have to are interchangeable in the

present tense, okay.

So you can say I, again, always begin with the subject, so I, you, he, she, they, we.

I have to go home.

You can also say, I have got to go home, means I need to go home right now in the present,

okay.

And we're using just a different subject here, so I have, right, he has.

So he has to wake up.

He has got to wake up.

Now, when we're talking in the present, we can use I have got, I have got to go home,

I have got to wear a sweater today, okay.

He has got to wake up.

But when we want to speak in the future or in the past, we cannot use have got to.

We can only use have to.

So I will have to wake up at eight in the morning.

I had to wake up early yesterday.

We cannot say I had got to wake up.

That is bad, bad, bad grammar.

So remember, if you want to be safe, I mean, the got to is really, really optional in this

case.

If you just like to be safe, just always say have to.

I will have to, I had to, I have to, okay.

So if you want to talk about it in the negative sense, like don't, we don't have to go to

school.

So subject plus do not or doesn't, right, he doesn't, we don't, we don't have to go

to school.

And again, when you're talking about the negative, we also do not use have got to, we just use

have to.

So for example, I can't say we don't have got to go to school.

It's only we don't have to go to school.

We don't need to go to school.

We can listen on the internet, and that's good enough.

Well, maybe, it's up to you.

Okay, so when you want to form a question using have to, again, only have to, not have

got to, okay.

Do plus the subject, do or does, right, does he, do we, do we have to plus the base form

of the verb.

Do we have to leave?

Do we have to go?

Do we have to wear these clothes today?

That's a bad example, but a funny one.

Okay, so finally, we've looked at have got, have got to, have to, now we must look at

must.

So, what is the difference between must and have to?

There really, really isn't a lot of difference between these two terms except when you use

them.

So, you must try harder, okay.

Have to is very informal language.

Have to you can use in the classroom.

You can use it with your friends, with your family, even with the people at work.

Must is very, very formal.

Must you would use in writing, okay.

In writing or it can be used by a person who is in a position of power, okay.

So, like the president or the prime minister of a country would use the term must, okay.

So, we must lower taxes, okay.

It's more formal in saying we have to lower taxes.

It has a much stronger, more formal meaning.

So, you must try harder, okay.

And must, just as a refresher, can only, only, only be used in the present form.

So, you cannot say I will must try harder, you will must try harder, I musted tried harder.

No, only, only, only in the present, okay.

So, you must try harder, I must try harder, we must try harder, okay.

So, if you'd like to test your understanding of talking about necessity, about having to

do something, okay, about you, you know, about using must, have to, and have got to, please

check out www.engvid.com.

Thanks again for clicking and take care.