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Must and Have to for beginners

musthave tomodal verbssemi-modal verbs

'Have to' and 'must' have the same meaning and are used to express obligations. However, they are used in different situations and are not interchangeable.

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"Must and Have to" in English Grammar

The Modal Verb Must

We use 'must' to talk about 'rules and obligations' in the present.

We must use the base form of the verb after 'must.'

For example:

You must do your homework.

He must pay her back.

You must be quiet after 10 o'clock.

'Must' has only one form for all persons.

I must work.
He/She/It must work.
We/You/They must work.

Negation

The negative form of must is 'must not' or 'mustn’t.' But keep in mind that in modern everyday English, we do not normally use 'mustn't' or 'misu not'.

You mustn't disrespect your parents.

They mustn't forget their duties.

These sentences are both rather formal and we must use 'shouldn't' or 'should not' instead.

Warning

Do not use don’t/doesn’t/didn’t with 'must.'

Questions

To form questions, all you need to do is change the subject and 'must.' But remember that it is rather formal and it is not used in everyday English that often.

A : Must you be this cruel?

B : No, I mustn't.

A : Must I pay now?

B : Yes, you must.

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