Hello and welcome to English Grammar & Vocabulary.

Recently, we received a question from Liston, a junior high school student. He wanted to know about the
difference between MUST and HAVE TO or HAVE GOT TO. What an interesting question. We are very
delighted to help Liston to answer the question.

To answer the question about the difference between MUST and HAVE TO or HAVE GOT TO, first of all
you need to know that these two words are used for talking about OBLIGATION but there are some
important differences. What are those differences? Let’s have a look at them separately.

MUST

Must basically is an internal obligation that is felt by the person who is talking. It is like saying ‘I felt it is
necessary to do it’

Let’s see some examples

‘I must stop smoking’ When I say ‘I must stop smoking’, It means ‘I felt it is necessary for me to stop
smoking because it is bad for my health.’

"You must get up by 5am", which means "I think it is necessary that you get up by 5am because your job
starts at 7

"She must stop talking like that’ which means "I think it is necessary that she stops talking like that
because it sounds rude.

HAVE TO or HAVE GOT TO

On the other hand, HAVE TO or HAVE GOT TO is an external obligation that comes from another person
or an authority. It can also be related to a law, a rule or an agreement.

Let's look at some examples:

I have got to see the doctor. When I say ‘I have got to see the doctor’, I have an appointment to see the
doctor so I have to go"

'She has got to get her hair cut now, she's in the army.’ The sentence ‘She has got to get her hair now,
she’s in the army’ means that a rule in the army says that it is an obligatory for someone who joins the
army.

‘You've got to take your passport when you go abroad.’ This sentence means that you have to take your
passport with you because there is a law that makes this obligatory for someone who goes abroad.’

Well, Liston I hope that answered your question. Just to let you know that in fact the difference between
these two words MUST and HAVE TO or HAVE GOT TO not so important in the sense that any English
speaker would understand what you are saying with "must" or have to"

I will put some grammar exercises related to this question at the end of the video so you can practice.
Thank you for watching and thank you for your subscribe bye for now.