have to (what life demands)
I have to go to school, she has to feed the cat — the everyday twin of must, for duties that come from the world rather than the rule-maker.
From age 10Talking about before →
✏️ The pattern
- Saying it
- I have to get up early.
- Saying no
- I don't have to go.
- Asking
- Do you have to wear a uniform?
- Short answer
- Yes, I do. / No, I don't.
🗣️ Sentences a child can say
Tap any sentence to hear it. Every one uses words from a topic pack you already have.
🩹 What you will actually hear
The three mistakes that come up in every class, and what is behind each one.
She have to go.She has to go.
Have to is NOT a modal — it is ordinary have wearing a duty hat, so she and he bend it to has. The contrast with must is the whole lesson.
I mustn't go = I don't have to gomustn't = forbidden; don't have to = optional
The famous trap: the positives twin, the negatives split. Mustn't slams a door; don't have to opens one. Teach the negatives as opposites, never as a pair.
🎯 How to teach it
- 1
Compare mornings: 'I have to get up at 6. My cat doesn't have to get up at all.' Envy of the cat is the fastest route to the meaning.
- 2
Interview jobs: a firefighter, a baker, a teacher — what does each have to do? Job cards generate has-to sentences by the dozen.
- 3
Celebrate don't have to: list the class's freedoms ('We don't have to cook! We don't have to drive!'). Grammar that delivers good news teaches itself.
🗂️ Topic packs that pair with this
Same structure, words your class already knows — no new vocabulary needed.
💬 Questions teachers ask
Must or have to — which do natives actually use?
In speech, have to wins for duties and must survives mostly in rules and signs. Teach both honestly: must for the poster on the wall, have to for the story of your morning.
Is the mustn't / don't have to contrast really Flyers material?
Receptively, yes — it appears in Flyers reading. Productively it can wait: a child who says 'You don't need to' instead has solved the problem beautifully.