On Sunday
It is said that Sunday is the best day of the week because you don't have to work and you haven't got to wake up early. You don't need to have breakfast quickly and you can read the newspaper as long as you want. This is true, but today is Sunday and I am in my utility room. What can I see? An iron, a broom, a washing machine, a full laundry basket, a feather duster and a vacuum cleaner. What do I use them for? To do the housework. This means that I will have to spend the whole Sunday using the window cleaner, the mop and the dustpan. But people say that on Sunday you don't have to work and you haven't got to wake up early. You don't need to have breakfast quickly and you can read the newspaper as long as you want. So, what is happening? Maybe people forget that some Sundays you must work at home. It is true you don't have to go to work to your office or to your shop but the laundry detergent, the bleach and the softener are waiting for Sunday to be used. | Present | need not (needn't)
do not need to (don't need to) / does not need to (doesn't need to)
do not have to (don't have to) / does not have to (doesn't have to)
have not got to (haven't got to) / has not got to (hasn't got to) |
| Past | need not have (needn't have)
did not need to (didn't need to)
did not have to (didn't have to)
had not got to (hadn't got to) |
| Future | need not (needn't)
shall not need to (shan't need to) / will not need to (won't need to) |
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| Uses | • When we want to say that it isn't necessary to do something we can use needn't, don't need to, don't have to or haven't got to. Needn't is normally used to express the speaker's authority while the other forms refer to external authority. However, needn't cannot be used in present habitual actions.
• In the past we use needn't +perfect infinitive, didn't have to or didn't need to (both have and need are stressed in speech) to say it wasn't necessary to do something, but we did. Instead we use didn't have to, didn't need to (without stress) or hadn't got to to say we knew in advance that it wasn't necessary to do something so we didn't. |
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