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the past form of have got to do in a negative sentence

 
 
Reply Wed 6 May, 2015 04:21 am
Hello again,

What is the past form of have got to do in a negative sentence? I only know positive and negative forms of have got to do for the present tense. And I also know the positive past form .

E.g. I have got to learn at least three foreign languages to get a good job in the
future.
E.g. I haven't got to learn that many new words in English by heart to get
by.
E.g. I had to learn Russian when I was a guy of 19.

But how about the past form of have got to do in a negative sentence?
Is it going to be like this?,

E.g I hadn't got to learn English when I was a boy. Is it correct? Or maybe this one below is correct? ,
I didn't have got to learn English when I was a boy.

looking forward to your replies,



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Type: Question • Score: 4 • Views: 623 • Replies: 7
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maxdancona
 
  0  
Reply Wed 6 May, 2015 07:11 am
@ificouldreturnit,
Hmm,

The "I have got to learn" form is a bit informal, and it expresses an urgency or strong desire. The negative forms you suggest lose the sense of urgency. You wouldn't say "I haven't got to learn that many words....".

You would simply say "I don't have to learn that many words...".

The more interesting case is where it is urgent that you don't get something.

0 Replies
 
maxdancona
 
  0  
Reply Wed 6 May, 2015 07:13 am
@ificouldreturnit,
Not every idiom in the English language has a negative form...

Saying "I had to learn Russian when I was 19 years old" is the correct way to say that. The negative form would be "I didn't have to learn Russian when I was 19 years old".
0 Replies
 
InfraBlue
 
  0  
Reply Wed 6 May, 2015 04:31 pm
@ificouldreturnit,
"I haven't got to learn that many new words in English by heart to get by," isn't grammatical.

"I hadn't got to learn English when I was a boy," can be more grammatically written as, "I hadn't gotten to learn English when I was a boy."

"I didn't have got to learn English when I was a boy," can be more grammatically written as, "I didn't get to learn English when I was a boy."
FBM
 
  1  
Reply Wed 6 May, 2015 04:47 pm
@ificouldreturnit,
"I didn't have to..."
0 Replies
 
ificouldreturnit
 
  1  
Reply Thu 7 May, 2015 01:19 am
I appreciate you all for your replies. They are helpful. And thanks for correcting my mistakes! I got it.
0 Replies
 
maxdancona
 
  1  
Reply Thu 7 May, 2015 07:51 am
@InfraBlue,
Quote:
I haven't got to learn that many new words in English by heart to get by


This is perfectly grammatical.... it is colloquial, but there are Americans who say things like this in normal speech.
InfraBlue
 
  1  
Reply Thu 7 May, 2015 11:08 pm
@maxdancona,
maxdancona wrote:

Quote:
I haven't got to learn that many new words in English by heart to get by


This is perfectly grammatical.... it is colloquial, but there are Americans who say things like this in normal speech.

I've never come across this kind of construction.

I should have referred to it as "non-standard," then.
0 Replies
 
 

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