I must... I have to...

[sophie]

Has this been covered? How to express you must do something, or have to go somewhere...

[Jason]

I know it has, but not sure where.

[metablue]

I remember asking about this in the forums a while back and someone said you'd use -nai and to. "If I don't do x then ... (bad things will happen)". Don't remember it being directly addressed in a lesson, but looking back on the Akaname lesson, the brother uses it when he's cleaning the bath.

Lower Intermediate Lesson #1 - Scary Fairy Tale
Hayaku souji shinai to.
I have to hurry and clean.

[markystar]

yeah, the negative verb followed by to is one way to do it (a pretty strong way too).

there are so many ways to do it, and they are generally formed in similar ways (if you don't do this, x will happen).

i looked around and found this one which covers しないといけない:
http://www.japanesepod101.com/2007/03/2 ... cards-vii/

My Tokyo Traveblogue - Day 6 also covered it.
http://www.japanesepod101.com/2007/01/2 ... gue-day-6/

Aomori Dialect 2 covers how to do it in tsugaru-ben. the PDF compares it to the standard japanese way:
http://www.japanesepod101.com/2007/03/1 ... ori-ben-2/

Aomori Dialect 3 also covers how to do it tsurgaru-ben. the PDF compares it to the standard way.
http://www.japanesepod101.com/2007/04/2 ... dialect-3/

All Grown Up covers "must not do" using てはいけません
http://www.japanesepod101.com/2006/11/1 ... -grown-up/

Postcards VIII also covers "must not do"
http://www.japanesepod101.com/2007/03/2 ... ards-viii/

Miki's Day in the Life of a student 学生の一日（月曜） 『バイトに行く』 and 学生の一日（月曜）『登校』 and 学生の一日（月曜） 『帰宅』 PDFs covers "must do"
http://www.japanesepod101.com/store/pro ... ctid=18103


There are probably a lot of conversations that use it, but it might not have been pointed out as a grammar point - especially in the Lower Intermediate and Intermediate levels.

so maybe it's time that we cover it again. it's always good practice!

marky