How to Say ‘I have to go.’ in Simplified Chinese
我得走了。
wǒ dé zǒu le
[waw děi dzoh le]
💬 Usage Tip: In this sentence 得 means "must" and is said (děi), not the usual (de).
Phrase Breakdown
我得
wǒ dé
I have to
得 means 'must, have to' and is read děi here, not de.
我得上班。
I have to go to work.
Words in this phrase
我
wǒ
[waw]
I; me
The first-person singular pronoun used by the speaker.
我想改一下座位。
I would like to change the seat a bit.
得
dé
[děi]
must; have to
When read as děi, it means you need to do something. It is common in spoken Chinese.
我得去上班了。
I have to go to work now.
走了。
zǒu le
go now.
走了 means 'leave now'. 了 marks the change of situation.
时间到了，走了。
It's time, let's go.
Words in this phrase
走
zǒu
[dzoh]
to walk; to go
A common verb for walking or moving from one place to another.
我们一直往前走。
We keep walking straight ahead.
了
le
[le]
(change of situation particle)
At the end of a sentence, it shows that something is now about to happen or has changed.
下雨了。
It's raining now.
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