HAVE TO – NEED – MUST

Present Time
You have to go. External obligation
You don’t have to go. Absence of external obligation

You need to go. Necessity

You do not need to go. Absence of necessity (sometimes the
You needn’t go. speaker has authority or power)

You must go. Moral obligation/the right thing to do

You must not go.
The wires must touch. Necessity (mainly technical English)

Past Time
You had to go. External obligation in the past
You didn’t have/need to go Absence of external obligation in the past. You may or
(, but you did/so you didn’t). may not have carried out the action.

You needed to go. Necessity in the past

You didn’t need/have to go Absence of external obligation in the past. You may or
(, but you did/so you didn’t). may not have carried out the action.
You needn’t have gone. Absence of necessity in the past. The action was
carried out, but it was not necessary.

Must cannot be used in the past to express obligation.