Ways to express duty and will.

[aleczanussi]

Hi,

 

I'm not sure about some chinese words concerning duty and will. I mean, I've been told that 不得不 + verb is the strong way to say "I REALLY have to" (and it doesn't depend on me), then we have 一定 / 必须 + 要 / 得 + verb to express a sort of english MUST, then there is 得 + verb which is like SHOULD,  要 which is a less strong and it mean "I'm going to, I have plans to...) and then at the end we have 想 / 想要 to say "I WANT".

Is this right?
Can someone tell me if there's something wrong and maybe add some easy examples? (I'm a beginner ;) )

Thanks
Alec

[SiMaKe]

Your question relates to a subset of verbs called “modal” or “optative” verbs. Some authors call them auxiliary verbs. These verbs express mood or attitude such as: permission, possibility, probability, obligation, wishing, willingness, necessity.

 

To help focus your question, note that 一定is an attributive/adverb and expresses certainty, “fixedness”, etc. with respect to nouns or verbs, resp. E.g., 1. The workers have fixed schedules or 2. We can certainly reach our goal if we follow the plan.

 

The rest of your question is about obligation and wishing.

 

Obligation comes in two flavors: moral and compulsory

 

For moral, 应该 expresses “ought to” or “should”. Like in: You should remember your girlfriend’s birthday.

 

For compulsory, you can use必须 for “must” or 需要 for “have to”. 1. You must obey your commander, or 2. The issue has to be considered carefully before we decide to attack.

 

得 is used in colloquial speech to indicate necessity and is often interchangeable with the above verbs of moral and compulsory obligation. 1. I have to go (or I’ll be in trouble) or 2. If you think he’s wrong, you must say something (or something adverse may happen).  

 

Wishing can be “mild”, in which case 想 is appropriate, or strong, in which case use要. I would like (想) to go to the play tomorrow night (but we can do something else if you’d like), or I want (要) to go to the play tomorrow night (even if you don’t).

 

This is just a very brief intro to this topic. There are other verbs for specific situations or flavors that also express some of these ideas. Context can also play a role. And a few of these verbs have other meanings (e.g.,   想 can mean to miss someone).

 

Hope this helps and doesn’t make things worse.

 

(The conceptual framework and terminology here are from Yip-Remington's Chinese: A Comprehensive Grammar)

[abcdefg]

What a great summary!

[aleczanussi]

Thank you!! You've been very useful! Really great summary.