Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Chan-Seung Lee]

[Lorikeet]

[Chan-Seung Lee]

Thank you for your reply.

I still have a question.

First, according to my dictionary 'got to' is equal to 'have got to' or 'have to' or 'must', so the way I see it I can paraphrase it like this: 'Sometimes he must ride them in shows.'. But your version is that they allowed him to ride them in shows. So I'd like you to tell me if my version is wrong and why 'got to' is the same meaning as 'allow somebody to do something'

Second, does 'One of the horses had a baby.' mean 'One of the horses gave birth to a baby.' or 'One of the horses was pregnant.'?

Thanks.

[CP]

To get to means to be allowed to, or to have the opportunity to, or to be able to.

You are right that got to sometimes means (or is used as the equivalent of) have got to / must. But in this case, it is just the past tense of get to.

So "Sometimes he got to ride them in shows" means "Sometimes he was able to / he was allowed to ride them in shows."

As for to have a baby, that means to give birth. When pregnant, the expecting mother is carrying the child, or is going to have a baby. When giving birth, the mother is having the baby. "One of the horses had a baby" just means "One of the horses gave birth to a foal."

To have a baby is also used this way: "My mother was 22 when she had me / when she gave birth to me / when I was born."
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