N4 grammar

〜なくてはいけない

nakutehaikenai

Must, from the rules

Formation

This is the same obligation as なければならない with a slightly more spoken feel. It is the exact mirror of てはいけません, so keep the two apart: one says you must, the other says you must not. Conversation cuts it down to なくちゃ.

Examples

〜なくてはいけない is marked in each sentence. Tap any word for its dictionary entry.

  1. By all means, you must come.

  2. You have to eat before you go.

  3. He had to part with his house.

  4. It's 7:30 now. I must fly.

  5. That institution must be protected.

The explanation is ours, written for this site. Example sentences from Tatoeba (CC BY 2.0 FR), each machine-checked to actually contain the pattern. Furigana is generated automatically, so a rare reading may be imperfect.