have to

English

Alternative forms

hafta (colloquial)

Etymology

Dates back at least to the Old English habban + tō 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)

Must; need to; to be urged to; to be required to; indicates obligation.
Synonyms: need to, 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.
(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), haber de
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)
Venetan: 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)

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.