Portuguese · Chapter 21 · Lesson 5 · Grammar primer

Ter que

Prescribed by the Edexcel specification - revisited.

The short version

In Brazil, have to is ter que

Conjugate ter, add que, then the verb you have to do, unchanged: tenho que, tem que, temos que, têm que. Brazilians say ter que in speech and most writing. Ter de means the same and is the usual form in Portugal, so recognise it but say ter que.

Tenho que trabalhar hoje.

I have to work today.

Não deve is not the same as não tem que

Não tenho que and não precisa mean there is no need: you are free either way. Não deve means you should not. English must not and don't have to are opposites, and so are these. Não precisa is also the polite way to turn down an offer of help.

Não precisa, obrigado.

No need, thanks.

That's the gist. The full article goes deeper - more examples, the edge cases, the why - and the practice below scores like a vocabulary session and earns the same XP.

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Practice

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10-question session

One question at a time, mixed across the exercises in this lesson. Miss one and it comes back round before the end. There are 16 in all: practise more afterwards if you want them.

Lesson 5 of 7 in this chapter

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