This page is your quick-reference cheat-sheet for saying "I have to," "I need to," and "I need a thing" at A2 level. (The full obligation vocabulary — сле́дует, обя́зан, прихо́дится and the finer shades — lives on the more advanced obligation spectrum; here we keep to the three or four patterns you'll actually use every day.) The single thing English speakers must internalise is that "I have to go" maps onto two grammatically opposite structures in Russian, and "I need a book" flips to a third — so picking the right one is about matching the construction, not translating word-for-word.
The four high-frequency patterns at a glance
| Pattern | Meaning | Subject case | Agrees with… | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| до́лжен + inf. | must / should / am obliged to | nominative | the subject (gender/number) | Я до́лжен идти́. |
| на́до / ну́жно + inf. | need to / it's necessary to | dative | nothing (impersonal) | Мне на́до идти́. |
| ну́жен + noun | need [a thing] | dative (the needer) | the needed thing | Мне нужна́ кни́га. |
| пора́ + inf. | it's time to | dative | nothing (impersonal) | Нам пора́ идти́. |
Read that table as the whole page in miniature. The rest just walks through each row with examples. The deeper grammar of the first three patterns is on the dedicated должен / надо / нужно page; this is the consolidated view.
до́лжен — personal obligation, nominative subject
до́лжен ("must / have to / should") behaves like a short adjective: it keeps an ordinary nominative subject and agrees with it in gender and number — до́лжен (m), должна́ (f), должно́ (n), должны́ (pl). It leans toward a duty or commitment — something expected of you.
Я до́лжен идти́, меня́ ждут.
I have to go, they're waiting for me. (masculine speaker → до́лжен; nominative я)
Она́ должна́ зако́нчить рабо́ту до пя́ти.
She has to finish the work by five. (feminine subject она́ → должна́)
Вы должны́ показа́ть па́спорт.
You must show your passport. (plural/polite вы → должны́)
на́до / ну́жно — practical need, dative experiencer
на́до and ну́жно (near-synonyms; ну́жно a touch more neutral, на́до a touch more colloquial) are impersonal: there is no nominative subject, the word never changes form, and the person with the need goes into the dative. They lean toward a practical necessity required by the situation.
Мне на́до идти́.
I need to go. (no 'I' subject; я → dative мне + на́до + infinitive)
Нам ну́жно купи́ть проду́кты.
We need to buy groceries. (мы → dative нам + ну́жно + infinitive)
Тебе́ на́до отдохну́ть.
You need to rest. (ты → dative тебе́)
The dative pronouns you'll lean on constantly: мне (to me), тебе́ (to you), ему́ (to him), ей (to her), нам (to us), вам (to you pl./formal), им (to them). This same dative-experiencer frame powers мо́жно and нельзя́ too — see можно / нельзя and the broader dative with impersonal modals.
The core contrast: Я до́лжен идти́ vs Мне на́до идти́
The same English "I have to go" lands in two opposite grammars. Put them side by side and the difference is purely structural:
| Я до́лжен идти́ | Мне на́до идти́ |
|---|---|
| nominative subject (я) | dative experiencer (мне) |
| до́лжен agrees (до́лжен / должна́) | на́до is frozen |
| leans "duty / obligation" | leans "practical need" |
Я до́лжен извини́ться — э́то моя́ вина́.
I must apologise — it's my fault. (до́лжен, moral obligation; nominative я)
Мне на́до купи́ть но́вые ту́фли.
I need to buy new shoes. (на́до, practical need; dative мне)
The nuance is real but the overlap is large; both are everyday. What you cannot do is mix the cases — до́лжен demands nominative я, на́до demands dative мне.
ну́жен — needing a thing (a noun)
Everything above was about needing to do something (an infinitive). To say you need a thing, the grammar flips one more time: use ну́жен / нужна́ / ну́жно / нужны́, which agrees with the needed thing (the thing is the grammatical subject!), while the needer stays in the dative.
| Needed thing | Form | Example |
|---|---|---|
| masculine | ну́жен | Мне ну́жен слова́рь. |
| feminine | нужна́ | Мне нужна́ по́мощь. |
| neuter | ну́жно | Мне ну́жно вре́мя. |
| plural | нужны́ | Ему́ нужны́ де́ньги. |
Мне нужна́ твоя́ по́мощь.
I need your help. (по́мощь is feminine → нужна́; needer я → dative мне)
Ему́ нужны́ де́ньги на ремо́нт.
He needs money for the repairs. (де́ньги is plural → нужны́; он → dative ему́)
To English ears this is backwards: in I need help, "I" is the subject. Russian makes help the subject — "help is necessary to me" — and the agreement tracks it. The needer is just a dative bystander.
пора́ — "it's time to"
A small but very common extra: пора́ ("it's time [to]"), impersonal, with the person in the dative and an infinitive following.
Нам пора́ идти́, уже́ по́здно.
It's time for us to go, it's already late. (dative нам + пора́ + infinitive)
Тебе́ пора́ спать.
It's time for you to sleep. (dative тебе́ + пора́)
Past and future
The two grammars diverge again in the past and future. до́лжен takes an agreeing form of быть (был / была́ / бы́ло / бы́ли); the impersonal на́до / ну́жно / пора́ take a frozen neuter бы́ло (past) and бу́дет (future), because there's no subject to agree with.
Я до́лжен был уйти́ ра́ньше.
I had to leave earlier. (до́лжен был; masculine subject)
Она́ должна́ была́ позвони́ть.
She was supposed to call. (должна́ была́; feminine subject)
Мне на́до бы́ло позвони́ть, но я забы́л.
I needed to call but forgot. (impersonal past: frozen neuter бы́ло — never была́, even for a woman)
Нам ну́жно бу́дет встре́титься за́втра.
We'll need to meet tomorrow. (impersonal future: frozen neuter бу́дет)
To say there's no need, simply negate: не на́до / не ну́жно ("no need to / don't").
Не на́до волнова́ться, всё в поря́дке.
No need to worry, everything's fine. (не на́до = there's no need)
Common Mistakes
❌ Я на́до идти́.
Incorrect — на́до is impersonal; the person is dative. 'I need to go' is Мне на́до идти́.
✅ Мне на́до идти́.
I need to go. (dative мне + на́до)
❌ Мне до́лжен рабо́тать.
Incorrect — до́лжен keeps a nominative subject and agrees with it: Я до́лжен / должна́ рабо́тать.
✅ Я до́лжен рабо́тать.
I must work. (nominative я + agreeing до́лжен)
❌ Мне ну́жно кни́га.
Incorrect — for a needed THING the word agrees with it: кни́га is feminine → нужна́.
✅ Мне нужна́ кни́га.
I need a book. (feminine кни́га → нужна́; needer dative мне)
❌ Ей на́до была́ позвони́ть.
Incorrect — на́до is impersonal, so the past is frozen neuter бы́ло, never agreeing with 'her'.
✅ Ей на́до бы́ло позвони́ть.
She had to call. (dative ей + frozen neuter бы́ло)
❌ Мне пора́ иду́.
Incorrect — пора́ takes the infinitive, not a conjugated verb: Мне пора́ идти́.
✅ Мне пора́ идти́.
It's time for me to go. (пора́ + infinitive)
Key Takeaways
- до́лжен / должна́ / должны́ + inf. — personal duty, nominative subject, agrees in gender/number: Я до́лжен идти́, Она́ должна́ рабо́тать.
- на́до / ну́жно + inf. — practical need, impersonal, dative experiencer, frozen: Мне на́до идти́.
- ну́жен / нужна́ / ну́жно / нужны́ + noun — needing a thing: agrees with the needed noun, needer stays dative: Мне нужна́ кни́га, Ему́ нужны́ де́ньги.
- пора́ + inf. — "it's time to," impersonal, dative: Нам пора́ идти́.
- Past/future: до́лжен takes an agreeing быть (до́лжен был); на́до / ну́жно / пора́ take a frozen neuter бы́ло / бу́дет (Ей на́до бы́ло — never была́).
- Negate practical need with не на́до / не ну́жно ("no need to").
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- Must and Need: Должен, Надо, НужноA2 — Russian splits 'must / need' across two grammatically opposite patterns. До́лжен/должна́/должно́/должны́ is a short adjective agreeing with a NOMINATIVE subject (Я до́лжен идти́, Она́ должна́ рабо́тать). На́до / ну́жно are impersonal with the person in the DATIVE (Мне на́до идти́). And ну́жен/нужна́/ну́жно/нужны́ flips again to agree with the needed THING (Мне нужна́ кни́га, Ему́ нужны́ де́ньги). Includes past/future (Я до́лжен был, Мне на́до бы́ло).
- The Obligation Spectrum: должен, надо, нужно, обязан, приходитсяB2 — English flattens obligation into 'must / have to / should / need to', but Russian spreads it across a graded set that differs in both SYNTAX and FORCE. До́лжен (nominative, personal duty), на́до/ну́жно (dative, practical need), прихо́дится/пришло́сь (dative, unavoidable external compulsion: Мне пришло́сь уйти́), обя́зан (formal obligation), сле́дует (advisable), сто́ит (it's worth). Choosing among them tells the listener WHY the obligation exists.
- Permission and Prohibition: Можно, НельзяA2 — Two impersonal words handle 'may' and 'may not'. Мо́жно = it's allowed / it's possible (Здесь мо́жно кури́ть? Мне мо́жно войти́? Мо́жно вопро́с?). Нельзя́ is its negative — and its meaning splits by ASPECT: нельзя́ + imperfective = prohibition ('mustn't': Здесь нельзя́ кури́ть), нельзя́ + perfective = impossibility ('can't manage to': Дверь нельзя́ откры́ть). The same word means 'forbidden' or 'impossible' depending purely on the infinitive's aspect — a distinction almost no course teaches.
- Dative with Impersonal Modals (можно, нужно, нельзя, пора)A2 — Russian expresses most modality about people with a frozen pattern: dative person + impersonal word + infinitive. Мне на́до идти́ (I have to go), Вам мо́жно войти́ (you may come in), Ему́ нельзя́ кури́ть (he mustn't smoke), Нам пора́ е́хать (it's time for us to go), Тебе́ тру́дно поня́ть (it's hard for you to understand). Past/future insert frozen neuter бы́ло/бу́дет (Мне на́до бы́ло уйти́). The experiencer is the DATIVE — there's no nominative 'I'. Plus the agreeing ну́жен/нужна́/ну́жно/нужны́ for needing a thing (Мне нужна́ по́мощь, Мне нужны́ де́ньги).
- Dative Subjects: Feelings, Age, NecessityA2 — In a signature Russian construction the logical subject — the person experiencing a state — stands in the DATIVE, not the nominative, and there is often no nominative subject and no real verb at all. Feelings: Мне хо́лодно (I'm cold), Ему́ ску́чно (he's bored). Age: Мне два́дцать лет (I'm 20). Necessity/permission: Мне на́до идти́ (I have to go), Здесь нельзя́ кури́ть (you can't smoke here). Liking: Мне нра́вится му́зыка (music is pleasing to me — the liked thing is the nominative subject!). The verb, when present, is frozen neuter. This is where English speakers most resist Russian, and mastering it is the gateway to sounding native.