I thought the と meant to make it a quote and it would say something like ‘I also can’t go’, but tae kims translation says this is ‘I have to go’.
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と also has a conditional usage, not just quotation
So this means, “If I don’t go,” which is a shortening of the longer versions of “must” that include some negative like いけない or なりません
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I’m thinking the list ‘and’ と is really not so different from the conditional と. Or maybe it is, but it’s useful for me as a mnemonic device to think of it this way, at least temporarily.
We could say in English, “I won’t study and (because of that, implied) I’ll fail the exam”. It could also be taken to mean “I’d better study”.
In this case,
(hypothetically,) I don’t do a thing と (it would be bad, implied)
行かないと（ダメ）- If I don’t go there will be consequences = I have to go.
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ないと is short for ないといけない. Which is basically a double-negative (I mustn’t not go → I have to go).
行かないと行けない
HEY GAIZZZZZZZzzz
IF I DONT GO I CANT GO
It doesn’t mean that though oh I guess you’re just being silly.
I wouldn’t dream of it.
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But seriously it’s not the potential of 行く in case anyone inferred that from it.
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