When should I use ‘have to’?

Posted by pakguru on September 7th, 2017 | 2 responses | advice, grammar, Indo English, obligation

I’m sorry I’m late. My wife is sick and so this morning I should take my son to school. And I’m sorry but I should leave early today to take him home.

OK so this is an Indonesian student over-translating ‘harus’ as ‘should’. Actually there are situations when we have to use ‘have to’ instead of ‘should’. Take a look at the following examples and try the exercises that follow.

As a teacher I have to [1] get up early on work days because I have to [2] be in class at 8 o’clock. I drive to work, although I should [3] probably use a motorcycle, which is faster and more convenient in Bali.

When I was a musician I didn’t have to [4] get up early. On the other hand I had to [5] be on stage most evenings at 8 o’clock. I had to [6] drive to gigs because I had to [7] carry many drums. I know what you’re thinking – I should’ve [8] chosen a smaller instrument like the violin. Yes, but then I would have had to [9] play the violin!

Discussion

1. In which situations do/did/would I have a choice?
2. In which situations do/did/would I NOT have a choice?

Complete the rule:
In the present:

• we use ________________ to talk about situations when it is a good idea to do something, but we have a choice. (We probably don’t do it!)
• we use ________________ to talk about situations when we have NO choice. (We do it, even if we don’t want to!)

In the past:

• we use ________________ to talk about situations when it would have been a good idea to do something, but we didn’t do it, even though we had a choice.
• we use ________________ to talk about situations when we had NO choice. (We did it, even if we didn’t want to!)

(scroll down for answers!)
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
Discussion

1. In which situations do/did/would I have a choice? [Answer: 3,8]
2. In which situations do/did/would I NOT have a choice? [Answer: 1,2,4,5,6,7,9]

Complete the rule:
In the present:

• we use should to talk about situations when it is a good idea to do something, but we have a choice. (We probably don’t do it!)
• we use have to to talk about situations when we have NO choice. (We do it, even if we don’t want to!)

In the past:

• we use should have + V3 to talk about situations when it would have been a good idea to do something, but we didn’t do it, even though we had a choice.
• we use had to to talk about situations when we had NO choice. (We did it, even though we didn’t want to!)

When corrected, the opening example reads as follows:

🙂 I’m sorry I’m late. My wife is sick and so this morning I had to take my son to school. And I’m sorry but I have to leave early today to take him home.

Hope that helps!

2 responses to “When should I use ‘have to’?”

1. Gin says:

   October 1, 2021 at 12:55 am

   Very good explanation. However, I think the answer for the discussion no. 1 and 2 are inverted.

   Reply
   • pakguru says:

     October 10, 2021 at 10:46 pm

     Well spotted, Gin! Now corrected and updated 😉

     Reply