# EN: I've got to go / I have to go



## isausa81

I've got to go / I have to go?

Je pense que l'on dit plutôt "I have to go" ? Est-ce que quelqu'un peut me le confirmer, svp ? Merci.


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## Aupick

En fait les deux sont possibles. 

Je crois que 'I have to go' est plus fréquent en anglais américain. Je crois aussi que 'I have to go' est un peu plus soignée en anglais britannique, bien que moins fréquent.


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## isausa81

Les 2 sont corrects, alors?


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## Aupick

Oui, tout à fait.


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## williamc

Hi isaus81

I've "got" to go is more emphatic.

williamc


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## Markus

The most colloquial version of this phrase that you will hear quite commonly is "I gotta go".


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## isausa81

Merci Marcus, mais en fait, ça je le savais déjà et en plus, ma question concernait la forme écrite (j'aurai dû le préciser). Mais merci qd même ;+) .


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## river

"Got" is an ugly word. Where "have" will do the trick, use it and leave out the "got."


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## LV4-26

river said:
			
		

> "Got" is an ugly word. Where "have" will do the trick, use it and leave out the "got."


As Aupick suggested, I don't think this feeling is shared to that extent by BE speakers. 

_I've got to_ is almost considered as standard English in the UK. They *write* it as well, though maybe not in all kinds of books. (Need confirmation by BE speakers here).

Same with
_I've got a car _
where you'd have _I have a car_ in AE.


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## river

Call me a fuddy-duddy, but the word "got"  is unnecessary and unattractive, although widely used.


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## Agnès E.

Thank you for this interesting explanation, river! 
We (I mean, not-natives) need to know in which case to use and to avoid this or that form.


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## williamtmiller

The bottom line with I've got to go and I have to go is that the former is widely used in the UK and the latter is more widely used in North America. As a North American I completely agree with River. I don't see why you would put the word got in that sentence. Got - the past tense of the verb get or obtenir in French does not make any sense in this scenario and just adds an unnecessary word to the sentence. I hear people say "I've got a sister". I generally would respond with really, where did you get her? That said, they are both "right".


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## calembourde

river said:
			
		

> "Got" is an ugly word. Where "have" will do the trick, use it and leave out the "got."



I'm glad I'm not the only one who thinks so! I mentioned that on another thread but nobody seemed to agree.


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## E-J

williamtmiller said:
			
		

> The bottom line with I've got to go and I have to go is that the former is widely used in the UK and the latter is more widely used in North America. As a North American I completely agree with River. I don't see why you would put the word got in that sentence. Got - the past tense of the verb get or obtenir in French does not make any sense in this scenario and just adds an unnecessary word to the sentence. I hear people say "I've got a sister". I generally would respond with really, where did you get her? That said, they are both "right".


 
It's a language, not a logic problem or a challenge to answer-this-question-in-12-words-or-less  "have / 've got to" is the UK version. "I've got a sister" is something a BE speaker would happily confide. Except for me ... I'm an only child


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## Petrie787

As a native speaker of US english, i have to disagree with alot of what was said. Its extremely common to hear anyone in the US to say "I've got a car!" but as the same time it sound better to me to say "I have two sisters." US english is far to complicated to confine to any rules. I suppose I would have to say that the "i've got" construction is more often used to respond to a question or as an interjection, as opposed to a normal sentence of "I have a car" or "I have two sisters". English speakers can use either of these and a variety of other ways to express the same thing. Nothing in english is necessary or unnecessary. Sorry that probably doesnt help anything hehe.


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## mplsray

williamtmiller said:


> The bottom line with I've got to go and I have to go is that the former is widely used in the UK and the latter is more widely used in North America. As a North American I completely agree with River. I don't see why you would put the word got in that sentence. Got - the past tense of the verb get or obtenir in French does not make any sense in this scenario and just adds an unnecessary word to the sentence. I hear people say "I've got a sister". I generally would respond with really, where did you get her? That said, they are both "right".


 
If you were a native speaker of British English reacting to another native speaker of British English your little joke would make at least a little sense. But for a native speaker of American English, your reply makes not the slightest sense.

The reason it makes no sense is that an American would say, with the meaning "I have obtained a sister," _I've *gotten* a sister._ The word _got_ would simply never be used in such a situation in American English—in contrast to British English—so in American English there's no chance of the misunderstanding occurring which is the basis of your joke.


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## broglet

mplsray said:


> If you were a native speaker of British English reacting to another native speaker of British English your little joke would make at least a little sense. But for a native speaker of American English, your reply makes not the slightest sense.
> 
> The reason it makes no sense is that an American would say, with the meaning "I have obtained a sister," _I've *gotten* a sister._ The word _got_ would simply never be used in such a situation in American English—in contrast to British English—so in American English there's no chance of the misunderstanding occurring which is the basis of your joke.


Actually, the joke makes no sense in English English either. "I've got a sister" means "I have a sister". It cannot mean "I acquired a sister" (which would have to be "I got a sister").

Now, to get back to the knitting (and please note, I am only talking about EE): 

"I've got to go" and "I have to go" are both perfectly good English. "I've got to go" is, as has been said, more emphatic but there is nothing "ugly" about the word "got" as someone suggested. It would not be remotely surprising to hear a refined, educated English speaker use it.

"I have to go" suggests less urgency and less compulsion.

As for "retort" it is often used as a verb in the written language, but much less frequently in speech. When used as a verb there is no preposition. Example: "I asked him if he was happy. "No!" he retorted". The word is rarely used as a noun except when referring to a container (eg a glass retort used in chemistry).


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## kiwi-di

My computer had a bit of a meltdown, and what I wrote previously came out looking very strange!  So I'll start again.

If I was talking to someone and I saw my boss coming, I'd say "I've got to go"  - implying urgency.

If I was having lunch with a friend, and it was time to go back to work, I'd say "I have to go now" - implying necessity.

If I didn't really want to go, I'd say "I'd better go now" - implying reluctance.


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## Petrie787

I completely agree with broglet..
however he pointed out something that slipped my mind. To a native speaker, the difference is obvious between "I got a (Noun)" or "I've got a (noun) vs. "I('ve) GOTTA go (eat, run, take off.. a verb)" It may be, for those learning english, that this extremely common but technically not grammatically corret phenomena that english speakers employ all over the place is causing confusion in the first place. Just thought i throw that in there.


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## broglet

Interesting difference here between AE and EE. Although many EE speakers, especially the young and trendy, say things like "gotta go" nowadays (pronounced something like "gaadago") the traditional (and common) EE pronunciation is "go(t) t'go" [the first bracketed t representing a silent glottal stop]

It would be interesting to see these written in IPA ... any offers?

By the way, if something is extremely common but grammarians regard it as technically incorrect, does this not simply mean that their grammatical theory needs updating?


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## LV4-26

broglet said:
			
		

> It would be interesting to see these written in IPA ... any offers?


 My offer :
/gɒʔ t(ə) gəʊ/

The "ʔ", I copied from Wikipedia. They say that kind of dotless question mark is used to stand for the glottal stop.


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## williamc

"I've _got_ to go" is in the _imperative_ mood.


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## kiwi-di

broglet said:


> By the way, if something is extremely common but grammarians regard it as technically incorrect, does this not simply mean that their grammatical theory needs updating?


You're really opening up a can of worms (what's the French for that?) here, and it probably needs a separate thread.

I'm a bit of a pedant, and hate to hear "compared to" (as opposed to "with"), "different to" (from), "less than" [a plural number], "amount of"  when the correct term is "number of" - but people say they're now correct because they're common usage.   But at the same time, I frequently say "I've got to go", and don't feel at all bad about it.


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## mplsray

williamc said:


> "I've _got_ to go" is in the _imperative_ mood.


 
I've never heard that take on it. Are you saying _I've got to go_ is in the imperative while _I have to go is not?_ The only imperative constructions in English that I am aware of use either the bare infinitive (_*Stop* that!_) or the word _let. _(_*Let* me *speak*. *Let* them *speak.*_)


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## Phill

Hello all,

have got to VS I have to

I was wondering : are there differences between these two expressions?

Can I say, with the same meaning:
"I have to go" and "I have got to go" ?


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## FAC13

They have the same meaning; I don't think you could even say one is more emphatic than the other.

Of course you would generally say "I've got to go" and you wouldn't say "I've to go", but apart from that the expressions are identical.


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## Suehil

If there is a difference, it is that 'I've got to go' is slightly less formal, and would rarely be used in written language.


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## williamc

Bonjour,

I've *got to go *to the loo shows more urgency than I *have to go.*


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