Need to, Have to & Must: Necessity 🤶Jennifer's Christmas To-Do List 🎄

Hi everyone. It's Jennifer. Do you know? It's really close to Christmas!

Luckily, I've done my shopping, but I still need to wrap all the gifts.

There is no rule that says all Christmas gifts must be wrapped,

but I think it's a lot more fun when you have to unwrap your gift to find out what you got.

Then you can have the chance to guess

what each present is

before you actually see it.

Must, have to, and need to all

express necessity.

So how did I choose to use each one in a sentence?

That's what we'll talk about in this lesson as we go over my Christmas to-do list.

Must is one of the modal verbs in English.

Modal verbs are auxiliary verbs or helping verbs.

Modal verbs combine with the main verb.

Remember the basic characteristics of modal verbs.

Modal verbs are followed by the base form of the verb.

We must finish it. We must send it. We must see it.

Modal verbs do not change form to agree with the subject.

I must finish. You must finish. He must finish.

Modals also do not change form to show tense.

So we don't use will

before must to express a future necessity, and we don't use the past tense ending -ed

to express a past necessity

Modals can have negative forms: must not, mustn't. You mustn't ruin the surprise.

Modals can be used in the passive, for example: online

gifts must be ordered well before Christmas for an on-time delivery.

Modals can have a perfect form, as in... must have done, must have seen, but that's for another lesson.

Because right now we're going to focus on necessity, not certainty.

Must expresses a strong

necessity its use is limited in American English.

If we're talking about necessity or

obligation in an everyday situation,

we're much more likely to use have to.

Have to is a semi-modal.

Have to changes forms to show agreement and tense.

I ave to finish. You have to finish. He has to finish.

We have to finish today. She had to finish yesterday. You'll have to finish tomorrow.

So to express a future necessity, we often use will have to in American English.

Have to can also be used in a progressive form and in the passive.

Well, I have to be going.

An envelope has to be sealed for delivery.

Have to and must are similar in meaning in the affirmative.

They refer to actions that are necessary or required.

Their negative forms, however, have opposite meanings.

You mustn't tell people how much you spent on their gift.

This means you shouldn't do this. It's important that you don't do this.

You don't have to buy gifts for everyone, you know.

This means the action is optional. The choice is yours. If you want to buy gifts for everyone

you know, okay. But if you don't buy gifts for all your friends, neighbors, and co-workers,

that's fine too.

As I said, must is more limited in use than have to. If we refer to

necessity, we can use have to in formal and informal English.

It's also more common to use have to in questions, as in, "Do I have to add another stamp to this letter?"

We can use must in questions,

but in American English we tend to use must to ask a question that

expresses how annoyed we are by someone's behavior.

For example:

Must you wear that ugly sweater to the holiday party? It's so embarrassing!

You'll see must in more formal situations, particularly in writing.

This modal verb is used to express necessity in academic writing and in legal documents.

For example, we may see in a post office:

All international packages must have a customs form.

Or a postal worker can inform me, "Your package must have a form. / You must fill out a customs form."

Both must and have to express a strong necessity.

Some sources say that must is more for what I feel is necessary, and

have to is more for what is required of me... what a situation requires.

But truthfully, I think there's overlap.

As I said, in American English have to is used a lot more in everyday situations

regardless of whether I'm expressing a personal sense of responsibility or a requirement of some kind.

So, I think it's fair to say that must or have to can be used to express an action that's

made necessary by a situation or an action that's required by some rule law or authority.

If I want to mail any gifts, I know from past experience that all packages must be sealed at home.

Postal workers won't give you tape to seal your packages at the post office.

I could also say all packages have to be sealed at home.

I'm expressing a policy that all U.S. post offices follow.

Need to like have to changes form to show agreement and tense.

The negative form of need to don't need to is similar in meaning to don't have to.

I need to go to the post office, but I don't need to go today. It can wait until tomorrow.

I need to go to the post office, but I don't have to go today it can wait until tomorrow.

In terms of meaning, need to can overlap with have to. They both can express a personal obligation.

But need to is really limited to a sense of what should be done

because I know it's important or I feel it's important.

I really need to buy a gift for the mail carrier. I want to show my appreciation.

This means I feel I shouldn't buy her a gift.

Need to is special because we can also use it to talk about what we feel another person should do

when a matter is important to us in some way.

I need you to help me choose a present from my mother-in-law. I just can't decide what to get.

In other words, it's important to me to receive your help. You should help me. I need your advice.

So we can use need someone to do something: I need you to help me.

I need you to give me some advice.

I need you to suggest some ideas.

Especially when the subject is I, you'll see overlap with need to and have to.

I really need to talk to you. I have to talk to you it's important.

I need to run to the store now. I have to run to the store before it closes.

If someone asks me, "Are you ready to go?" I might answer, "Almost. There's just one more thing I need to do."

"Almost. There's just one more thing I have to do."

All these examples express a personal sense of necessity or responsibility.

Let's talk more about overlap in meaning and use.

You'll see overlap between must and have to

when we express a strong recommendation

with a sense of urgency.

You have to buy that hat. It looks terrific on you! Treat yourself to a Christmas present.

You simply must see that movie while it's in the theater. You'll love it!

In these examples, there really isn't a necessity

except the one I'm creating. It's my strong desire for you to do something.

For emphasis, we also have these expressions:

It's a pretty ornament, you must admit.

You have to admit it's a pretty ornament.

That's a good holiday movie, but I have to warn you it's kind of long. I must warn you it's rather long.

The sentences make sense without those expressions. I'm simply using those expressions for emphasis.

To summarize, only must is a modal verb.

Have to and need to change forms to show agreement and tense.

Must and have to are similar in meaning.

They express a strong necessity.

Often the action is required by some rule, law, or authority.

Both can express a personal sense of obligation.

Have to is more common in general.

Have to is used in formal and informal situations.

Have to is also preferred in questions.

Must is more limited to formal contexts, like academic writing and legal documents.

Must is mostly used in the affirmative in American English.

Need to only expresses a personal obligation.

We use need to when we feel that something should be done and it's important.

Need to and have two can overlap when we talk about our responsibilities, our tasks, our to-do lists.

Help me complete my to-do list with the correct verb.

I need to clean the house before our next holiday gathering.

I had to buy a new bag of flour for all the baking I plan to do.

All the baking must be done by Friday because the cookie exchange is on Saturday.

Well, if you must know, I'm baking lemon squares and mini cheesecakes.

I don't have to prepare other food because we're only having tea and baked goods at the cookie exchange.

Well, we'll end here. For practice why don't you tell me a few things you have to do before the end of the year?

Or have you done everything already? Maybe there's nothing left you have to do.

Whether you celebrate Christmas or not, I'd like to offer my warmest holiday wishes to you and all your loved ones.

New Year's Eve is also coming up. So I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you the very best in the coming year.

I hope you'll continue to study with me.

I have to tell you that I have a lot of interesting and useful lessons planned for us.

That's all for now.

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