Must do A; have to A
23
主人の枕は臭いので毎日洗濯しなくてはいけない。
Since my husband's pillow is really smelly, I have to wash it every day.
15
何で僕がやらなくちゃいけないの。
Why do I have to do that?
14
だけど、明日はお客さんとも会わなくちゃいけないし・・・。
But I have an appointment with my client tomorrow.
25
あなたはもっと文法を勉強しなくてはいけない。
You must study grammar more.
14
あなたは、すぐそこに行かなくてはいけない。
You need to go there immediately.
10
何でこんなに早く起きなきゃいけないの？
Why do I have to wake up this early?
Getting the sentences
Construction
(Elements in parentheses are optional.)
Basic Examples:
行かなくてはいけない (must go)
Basic Examples:
寝なくちゃいけない (must sleep)
Notes
Stronger than ~なければならない.
Related Expressions
てはいけない
Where this grammar is found
Grammar usage notes
Nothing posted yet!
Questions/Discussion
Being super-literal isn't the right approach for everyone, but for some people (like me) it helps bridge the gap between "it feels like there's a lot of smaller parts and I don't understand how they work together" and "I intrinsically understand this."
So for me, struggling to come to terms with this, this grammar construct feels like "to not do _verb_ is undesirable / not good." The negative form of the verb, and then ては marking the action, which is followed by ならない (should not come to be) or いけない (prohibited, bad).
Hence, "to not _verb_ is an undesirable outcome / bad" => "must do verb," in a roundabout way.
This also makes sense with the less-severe ければ form, given that ければ means "if." The potentiality of the "if" lessens the strength of the "must," I guess.
Edit: Just noticed that マイコー did say something like this 6 years ago in the archived comments, lol, sorry. I'll leave this up anyway, in case it helps anyone else.
So for me, struggling to come to terms with this, this grammar construct feels like "to not do _verb_ is undesirable / not good." The negative form of the verb, and then ては marking the action, which is followed by ならない (should not come to be) or いけない (prohibited, bad).
Hence, "to not _verb_ is an undesirable outcome / bad" => "must do verb," in a roundabout way.
This also makes sense with the less-severe ければ form, given that ければ means "if." The potentiality of the "if" lessens the strength of the "must," I guess.
Edit: Just noticed that マイコー did say something like this 6 years ago in the archived comments, lol, sorry. I'll leave this up anyway, in case it helps anyone else.
