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Must vs Must Not | ||
Tags: Verbs/Conjugation | English | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Philological Room |  | |
| fanatic Octoglot Senior Member Australia speedmathematics.com Joined 7146 days ago 1152 posts - 1818 votes  Speaks: English*, German, French, Afrikaans, Italian, Spanish, Russian, Dutch Studies: Swedish, Norwegian, Polish, Modern Hebrew, Malay, Mandarin, Esperanto | Message 1 of 16 25 January 2006 at 12:47am | IP Logged | |||||
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What is the opposite of Must? It could be either, Must not (or Mustn't) or it could be, "Don't have to" as the opposite of "Have to".
"Must" and "Have to" have similar meanings in English whereas "mustn't" and "don't have to" have quite different meanings. How is this expressed in the languages you know? How do languages differentiate between "must" and "have to"? How do they differentiate between "must not" and "don't have to"? 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Walshy Triglot Senior Member Australia Joined 6942 days ago 335 posts - 365 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, German | Message 2 of 16 25 January 2006 at 1:12am | IP Logged | |||||
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You have to = you must
You don't have to = you need not At least in German. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
 Hencke Tetraglot Moderator Spain Joined 6894 days ago 2340 posts - 2444 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Finnish, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map | Message 3 of 16 25 January 2006 at 1:14pm | IP Logged | |||||
All languages have their little quirks and peculiarities. The fact that the negative of "must" means "may not" is just one of those peculiarities in English. You'll find other quirks in other languages, but you're not likely to find a parallel to that particular one. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Vespasian Bilingual Triglot Groupie Switzerland Joined 6919 days ago 55 posts - 55 votes Speaks: German*, Swiss-German*, English Studies: Italian | Message 4 of 16 25 January 2006 at 2:16pm | IP Logged | |||||
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In German there is an equivalent to "must" (müssen) but not to "have to". The opposite of "müssen" (must) is "nicht müssen" (not have to). I started to doubt it but I have to say sometimes German really makes more sense than English. :)
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| Andy E Triglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 7103 days ago 1651 posts - 1939 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, French | Message 5 of 16 27 January 2006 at 2:19am | IP Logged | |||||
note that "may not" doesn't always mean "must not". Contrast the following: Q: Can I go out tonight? A: You may not! Q: Are you going out tonight? A: Actually, I may not bother. Andy. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Hencke Tetraglot Moderator Spain Joined 6894 days ago 2340 posts - 2444 votes Speaks: Swedish*, Finnish, EnglishC2, Spanish Studies: Mandarin Personal Language Map | Message 6 of 16 27 January 2006 at 3:30pm | IP Logged | |||||
Right you are. "Not allowed to" would have been more precise than "may not". Thanks for spotting that. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| awb Groupie United States Joined 6874 days ago 46 posts - 48 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Russian | Message 7 of 16 04 February 2006 at 1:19pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Must/to have to = müssen
To not have to = nicht müssen May/to be allowed to = dürfen Must not/to not be allowed to = nicht dürfen Examples: Ich muss hier weg. = I must/have to leave (from here). Sie müssen sich nicht darüber sorgen. = You don't have/need to worry about it. Darf ich ins Kino gehen? = May (can) I go to the movies? Du darfst nicht bei ihm bleiben! = You must not stay with him! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| hagen Triglot Senior Member Germany Joined 6960 days ago 171 posts - 179 votes 6 sounds Speaks: German*, English, Mandarin Studies: Korean | Message 8 of 16 12 May 2006 at 2:50am | IP Logged | |||||
Actually there is a German equivalent to "have to" - at least where I live. It's "haben zu" as in: "Schüler haben ihre Hausaufgaben ordentlich zu machen" (Students have to do their homework properly.) or "Er hat zu antworten, wenn wir ihn fragen." (He has to reply when we ask him.) But it isn't used very often and sounds quite strongly emphasizing and imperative (to the point of being condescending). 1 person has voted this message useful |
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