have to

English

Alternative forms

• hafta (informal, nonstandard)

Etymology

Dates back at least to the Old English habban + to construction, with the same meaning as sense 1 below.

Pronunciation

• (UK) IPA^(key): /ˈhæv.tuː/ (careful)
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhæf.tu/ (careful)

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• (UK, General American) IPA^(key): /ˈhæf.tə/ (relaxed pronunciation)

Verb

have to (third-person singular simple present has to, present participle having to, simple past and past participle had to)

1. Must; need to; to be urged to; to be required to; indicates obligation.

   Synonyms: have got to, got to, gotta

   You have to wear a seat belt.

   I have to go to the bathroom.

   I just have to have that shirt.

   • 1897 December (indicated as 1898), Winston Churchill, chapter I, in The Celebrity: An Episode, New York, N.Y.: The Macmillan Company; London: Macmillan & Co., Ltd., →OCLC:

     I was about to say that I had known the Celebrity from the time he wore kilts. But I see I will have to amend that, because he was not a celebrity then, nor, indeed, did he achieve fame until some time after I left New York for the West.

   • 1951 September, “Notes and News: New Station for Glasgow Zoo”, in Railway Magazine, page 639:

     Before the new station could be built, a private overbridge had to be raised, and the railway regraded.

   • 2013 July-August, Henry Petroski, “Geothermal Energy”, in American Scientist, volume 101, number 4:

     Energy has seldom been found where we need it when we want it. Ancient nomads, wishing to ward off the evening chill and enjoy a meal around a campfire, had to collect wood and then spend time and effort coaxing the heat of friction out from between sticks to kindle a flame.

   • 2023 December 27, Stephen Roberts, “Bradshaw's Britain: the way to Weymouth”, in RAIL, number 999, page 55:

     The railway ran through the resort's narrow streets up to Weymouth Quay station, with thoughtlessly parked vehicles sometimes having to be bumped out of the way.

2. (with be) Must; expresses a logical conclusion.

   Synonyms: be bound to, have got to, got to, gotta, must

   that has to be the postman;  it has to be an electrical fault

Usage notes

• have is always followed by an infinitive verb, unless the verb is assumed:

I don't want to go to school, but I have to.

Translations

obligation

• Arabic: يَضْطَر (yaḍṭar)

  Egyptian Arabic: يضطر (yeṭar)

• Armenian: պետք (hy) (petkʻ)
• Basque: behar izan
• Belarusian: му́сіць (músicʹ), (predicative) паві́нен m (pavínjen), паві́нна f or n (pavínna), паві́нны pl (pavínny)
• Bulgarian: трябва да (trjabva da)
• Burmese: ရ (my) (ra.)
• Catalan: haver de (ca)
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 應該／应该 (zh) (yīnggāi), 必須／必须 (zh) (bìxū), 要 (zh) (yào), 不得不 (zh) (bùdébù), 非……不可 (fēi ... bùkě)

• Czech: mít (cs)
• Danish: skulle (da)
• Dutch: moeten (nl)
• Esperanto: devi (eo)
• Estonian: pidama (et)
• Finnish: täytyä (fi), olla pakko, pitää (fi)
• French: devoir (fr), falloir (fr), avoir à (fr)
• Friulian: dovê
• Galician: ter de (gl)
• Georgian: უნდა (unda)
• German: müssen (de), (zu tun) haben (de)
• Gothic: 𐍃𐌺𐌿𐌻𐌰𐌽 (skulan), 𐌸𐌰𐌿𐍂𐌱𐌰𐌽 (þaurban)
• Greek:

  Ancient: χρή (khrḗ), δεῖ (deî) (+ infinitive)

• Hebrew: צריך (he) m (tsarích)
• Hindi: (indicated with the infinitive of a verb)
• Hungarian: kell (hu), muszáj (hu), kénytelen (hu)
• Icelandic: þurfa að
• Ido: mustar (io)
• Indonesian: harus (id)
• Ingrian: pittää, hoolia
• Interlingua: deber
• Irish: bhí ar, caithfidh, is éigean
• Italian: dovere (it)
• Japanese: ...なければならない (...-nakereba naranai) (conditional negative form + "naranai"), ...なくてはいけない (...-nakutewa ikenai) (conditional negative form + "ikenai"), ...ないと駄目だ (ja) (...-nai to dame da), ...なきゃ (ja) (...nakya) (informal), ...なくちゃ (ja) (...nakucha) (informal)
• Khmer: ត្រូវ (km) (trəv)
• Korean: 해야 하다 (haeya hada)
• Ladin: dovei, cogner, messei, dover, cognei
• Ladino: tener menester de
• Lao: ຕ້ອງ (tǭng)
• Latin: habeō (la), habeō quod, dēbeō (la)
• Latvian: vajadzēt
• Lithuanian: turėti (lt), reikėti (lt) (with dative for subject)
• Livonian: piḑīm
• Macedonian: мора (mora)
• Malay: please add this translation if you can
• Maore Comorian: ulazimu
• Neapolitan: avé a
• Norwegian: må (no)
• Old English: sċulan
• Persian: باید (fa) (bâyad)
• Piedmontese: avèj da
• Polish: musieć (pl), mieć (pl) impf (sometimes)
• Portuguese: ter que, haver de (pt)
• Romanian: trebui (ro)
• Romansch: stuair, stuer, stueir, stuvair
• Russian: (predicative) до́лжен (ru) m (dólžen), должна́ (ru) f (dolžná), должно́ (ru) n (dolžnó), должны́ (ru) pl (dolžný)
• Sardinian: dèpere
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: мо́рати, тре̏бати

  Roman: mórati (sh), trȅbati (sh) impf

• Sicilian: duviri (scn)
• Slovak: musieť, mať (sk)
• Spanish: tener que, deber (es), haber que (impersonal)
• Swedish: måste (sv), vara tvungen
• Tagalog: kailangan
• Thai: ต้อง (th) (dtɔ̂ng), จำเป็น (th) (jam bpen), จำเป็นต้อง (jam bpen dtông)
• Tibetan: please add this translation if you can
• Tongan: fiemaʻu
• Turkish: -meli (tr), -malı (tr)
• Ukrainian: мати (uk) (maty), повинен (povynen)
• Venetian: aer de (vec)
• Vietnamese: phải (vi)
• Welsh: bod (cy) rhaid i + pronoun or noun, gorfod (cy)

conclusion

• Arabic: please add this translation if you can
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 一定 (zh) (yīdìng), 肯定 (zh) (kěndìng)

• Finnish: täytyä (fi), olla pakko, pitää (fi)
• French: devoir (fr)
• Hindi: please add this translation if you can
• Hungarian: biztos (hu), biztosan (hu), bizonyára (hu), minden bizonnyal (hu), alighanem (hu), lesz (hu)
• Indonesian: pasti (id)
• Macedonian: мора (mora)
• Polish: musieć (pl)
• Russian: (predicative) до́лжен (ru) m (dólžen), должна́ (ru) f (dolžná), должно́ (ru) n (dolžnó), должны́ (ru) pl (dolžný)
• Slovak: musieť
• Spanish: deber (es)
• Welsh: bod (cy) rhaid bod (cy) + pronoun or noun

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.

Translations to be checked

• French: ^{(please verify)} devoir (fr)
• German: ^{(please verify)} müssen (de), ^{(please verify)} haben zu (de) (with a harder meaning)
• Italian: ^{(please verify)} dovere (it)
• Romanian: ^{(please verify)} trebuie să (+ subjunctive of the verb)
• Spanish: tener que (followed by infinitive)
• Swedish: (1,2) ^{(please verify)} måste (sv), (1) ^{(please verify)} vara tvungen
• Vietnamese: ^{(please verify)} phải (vi)

See also

• Appendix:English modal verbs
• Appendix:English tag questions

References

• Collins English Dictionary
• “have to”, in Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster, 1996–present.
• “have to”, in Dictionary.com Unabridged, Dictionary.com, LLC, 1995–present.