Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[worksmart]

Hi Teachers,


I'd better go=I had better go=I got to go?

Why "I had better go" and not "I have better go", or just "I better go"?

Thanks!

[redset]

The phrase is 'had (past tense) better infinitive' - you always say 'had better', not 'have' or any other tense. You can contract it to 'I'd better', 'you'd better', 'they'd better' and so on; in informal speech some people drop the d sound and just say 'I better', 'you better' etc., but you should avoid this in formal language.