How to Say ‘I have to go.’ in Simplified Chinese
我得走了。
wǒ dé zǒu le
[wo děi zǒu le]
💬 Usage Tip: 得 means "have to" here and is read (děi), not the (de) you'll often see elsewhere.
Phrase Breakdown
我得
wǒ dé
I have to
得 here is read děi and means 'must / have to.' It is not de.
我得回家。
I have to go home.
Words in this phrase
我
wǒ
[wo]
I
The speaker referring to themselves.
我明天有空。
I am free tomorrow.
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 / leave (now)
走 (zǒu) means 'to leave'. 了 signals a change: it's time now.
太晚了，我们走了。
It's late, we're leaving.
Words in this phrase
走
zǒu
[zǒu]
to walk; to leave
Indicates the action of moving along by foot or exiting.
我们该走了。
We should leave now.
了
le
[le]
change-of-state particle
Used with 快…了 to show something is about to happen.
火车快来了。
The train is about to arrive.
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