Must have done & Had to do

Question

Please someone explain to me what is the difference between these two verbs?I read somewhere that both of them are the past of "must do". So what is the difference?

Enoon · Accepted Answer

"Must" is a modal verb with no preterite form. Compare it with "can", which has the preterite form "could":

He can do it.
He could have done it.

You can't do the same thing with "must":

He must do it.
He must have done it. [This means something different, that he certainly did it.]
He had to do it.

AlpheccaStars · Answer

Hi;
You are in the mountains at a camp site. The garbage cans are very heavy with tight-fitting lids.
In the morning you wake up and the garbage cans are moved and turned over, and the garbage is scattered everywhere.
The ranger says: "There are bears in the mountains. The bears must have gotten into the garbage. The bears must have done this."

Must have done = you are looking at the evidence and making a conclusion.

Later the bears attacked a small child and hurt the child badly.
The ranger tracked the bears and trapped them. The ranger had to do it because the bears were dangerous.

Had to do = there was no other choice.

Must have done & Had to do

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