'Must' and 'have to' - 4 simple rules | The Coffee Break English Show 2.02

Do you ever get confused between have to and must? Well, stay tuned for four simple rules and how you can use these modal verbs. Let's get started.

Welcome to the Coffee Break English Show. I'm Nick. And I'm Francesca. So, Francesca, do you want to introduce yourself?

Yes, of course. I'm Francesca and I'm one of the members of the coffee bake languages team and I'm not an atis speaker of English so I need your help for no problem but how are you feeling today? I'm very excited and I must I must say that I

always have those tiny little doubts when it comes to using a master and a have to. Well that's why we're here so let's get started with looking at the first simple rule. Okay So that one is must. Must.

Okay. So must means an obligation. So it could be a law or a rule. Okay.

It could be strong advice. Okay. So we look at an example. Yes.

I think an example would help me there. So here you must wear a seat belt when driving. Okay. You must wear a seat belt when driving. So that's the law.

I would say it's a strong obligation. Exactly. Yeah, absolutely. What about some strong advice? Okay. So for example, if you visit Scotland, you must visit Glencom.

Oh, yes, you must visit Glencom. I agree with that. Yes. So it's a must see. It's something that you can't. No, no obligation, but we think it's a really, really good idea to do. So in that case, it's not the law, obviously, that it's telling you that you must visit Glencoe, but it's for example, like your friend, your Scottish friend, who is

kind of strongly recommended that you go and visit that specific place. You can't miss it. It's exactly, it's strong like, okay. Okay.

So on to rule number two. So rule number two is about half two. And it means something is necessary. So it's something that you need to do.

So an example of this would be I have to wake up early tomorrow because I have a flight at 7 a.m. Okay, oh, for you. Yes.

I hope you're going somewhere nice. So in that case, it's not obviously the law that it's telling you that you have to wake up early, but you have an necessity there because if you don't do that, you're going to miss your flight. Exactly, I need to do something because of something else in this case.

Okay. Brilliant. So let's move on to reals and the three and four. Okay, and I take this is going to be maybe the negative forms of this verpsum.

right, absolutely. So here and we have to pay attention here with the difference between have I don't have to and mustn't as well. This is where I often have doubts myself. So I'm looking for where to this section. Let's clear it up. So rule number three is mustn't. mustn't. The pronunciation can be a little bit tricky. It can be, but try to think about removing the

T sound from must when you say mustn't. So it has no sound as a silent letter. So mustn't. mustn't. Perfect. Could they also say must not? Yes, and this can be even stronger because we can emphasise that not you must not. That's very interesting. Thank you. No problem. So the rule for number three is mustn't is used for when you're not allowed to do something. It's something

that is not permitted. Okay. So you can imagine the law from before that you must do something. Well, if you mustn't do something, it's not possible you can't do it. So we see an example. Absolutely. So you mustn't smoke on a train. It's not loud. Okay, you mustn't smoke on a train that makes sense. But we can also use mustn't for a strong advice.

Okay. I can say you mustn't touch that oven. It's very hot. Okay, I see what you mean. So this is not the law telling you, but it's a very strong advice because otherwise you burn your fingers quite badly. Exactly, and that serious negative consequence.

Yes. It's a very bad idea to touch the other way. Okay. Rule number four is don't have to, or doesn't have to in the third person's form.

And in this case, it's very different from nothing. It means something is not necessary. Okay. So you don't need to do it, you can, but it's optional.

Okay, so it's up to you basically if you want to do it or not, get away. Exactly. So it's very different from the idea of permission or no permission. Here it's about necessity. Okay, can we see an example for this one as well?

Yeah, absolutely. So I don't have to work on a Sunday, but sometimes I check my emails. Ah, that's a very good example. So I don't have to work on a Sunday. It's like, you are free.

It's your day off. But sometimes I check my emails. So it's up to you if you want to do a little bit of work, which means checking your emails.

But you don't have to do it. It is not that your company or your boss is telling you that you have to do it. It's a choice that you make.

Exactly, so we can see it's the absence of an obligation. Okay, there's not very good example. Yeah. Okay, so I think we've covered the four rules.

So now we can have a quick practice. But this is where you're the expert from Jessica, because I have some sentences about Italian food. Oh, really? I am excited.

I'm going to give you some sentences. And I haven't put the model verb. Okay. I want you to put the correct model verb for that Italian food rule.

Okay. Okay. I like this one. Are you ready? See. Oh, yes. For if you're listening or watching, you can pause the episode and try and guess which model verb is right here. Let's go.

Let's go. So the first one, you put Parmesan cheese on seafood pasta. Oh, this is very controversial, but from an Italian point of view, this is a must not. Okay, good, because that's what I don't put Parmesan cheese on my pasta when I eat seafood.

So this is like a prohibition in Italy. something that goes against the law somehow. So you must not put a Parmesan cheese on the on seafood pasta. I will remember that. So number two. Okay. Number two, you arrive early when you book a table at a restaurant. Okay. So this is a good one. So I wouldn't

You must not, because it's not like a stronger prohibition, it's simply you don't have to. So it's not necessary that you arrive early, you can arrive at the exact time or five minutes later, it's probably okay.