had had to do

Can you say "had had to do sth" , which means "obligation" as past perfect tense before sth happened.

[RonBee]

Yes, I think "he had had to do it" might be seen as equivalent to "he had been obligated to do it."

[ESL-lover]

Can you say "had had to do sth" , which means "obligation" as past perfect tense before sth happened.

Had to is the past form of Have to(Modal auxiliary)

I have to do something means I must do it "obligation".present

I had to do something means I must do it "obligation.Past

It must follow by verb one.

I think we cannot use it in the past perfect.

Because we need verb three after Had in the past perfect and we cannot put had to after Had here because it is a modal.

What do you think RonBee? :wink:

[RonBee]

I'm not sure what is meant by verb one and verb three. Also, I don't see why that form can't be used in the past perfect tense (but I'm willing to be convinced).

8)

[Lib]

'Have to' isn't a modal, it's an ordinary verb and can be used in any tense (except continuous / progressive tense, as it's a stative verb).

[Tdol]

I agree with Lib- 'have to' and 'be able to' are not exactly modals, but are used as ways of filling in for 'must' and 'can' respectively in forms that cannot be expressed by the modal, like futures with 'will', perfect aspects, etc.