I came across いかなければなりません in a graded reader and I am not certain how to interpret the phrase. Google translate says “I have to go.” One can only trust google translate as far as one can throw it though.
I understand 行かなければ as something along the lines of “when/if I go,” and なりません as “not become.” But, I don’t understand how those are working together. Am I missing something on how the potential form works? (I haven’t studied it yet.) My little bit of searching the forum for that phrase makes me think it is might be a colloquial phrase. Any help would be appreciated.
[negative conditional] + [negative] is a common way to say “must” or “have to”
It’s basically “if I don’t [something] then it’s not good”
The negative at the end can be ならない, いけない, and probably something else I’m forgetting (EDIT: ah, right, things like だめ, or あかん if you’re in Kansai like me)
It’s a set expression, so don’t worry about the literal meaning of なる.
As an aside, it’s of course okay to make a dedicated topic when you have a question, but if you’re interested, we also have a running short grammar questions topic if you don’t feel like making a topic.