have to

Idioms  

1. Also, have got to. Be obliged to, must. For example, We have to go now, or He has got to finish the paper today. The use of have as an auxiliary verb to indicate obligation goes back to the 16th century; the variant using got dates from the mid-1800s.

---

Example Sentences

In a tiny Tokyo restaurant filled with the smell of Nepalese dumplings, Budhathoki Samjhana surveys the business she built from scratch but may now have to give up as Japan tightens visa rules.

From Barron's • Jul. 1, 2026

“It’s very doable, but it’s not easy—you really have to have the will to do it,” he said.

From The Wall Street Journal • Jul. 1, 2026

"I'm going to have to increase the amount of my paycheck that goes into a private pension, which obviously isn't good with cost of living through the roof," he says.

From BBC • Jun. 30, 2026

Another £4.7bn will have to be found at the next budget, she said.

From BBC • Jun. 30, 2026

“He might come across wolves, bobcats. Cottonmouths and diamondbacks. Didn’t Will have to kill a rattlesnake?”

From "Will’s Race for Home" by Jewell Parker Rhodes