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If なくちゃ is followed by another verb, is it read as " _you must do X **or
else** Y will happen_" or " _you must do X **and then** Y will happen_"?

**Example:**  
In this sentence (from よだかの星):  
おまえは、曇ってうすぐらい日か、夜でなくちゃ、出て来ない。

**Is it:** "As for you, it must be a dim cloudy day or night... or else you
won't come out."  
**Or:** "As for you, it must be a dim cloudy day or night so that you won't
come out."
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2018-02-23T20:13:56.660
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question
verbs conditionals
What does the verb after なくちゃ or なくては mean?
You are thinking of `なくちゃ` as `must`, but it's really just a contraction of
`なくては`. `なくてはならない` and `なくてはいけない` are used to mean "must", and sometimes the
final verb is dropped and `なくちゃ` by itself is used as a very casual way to
imply that something must be done.

However, especially in cases where something comes after the `なくちゃ`, it can
just mean `なくては`. See Jisho's definition
[here](http://jisho.org/search/%E3%81%AA%E3%81%8F%E3%81%A1%E3%82%83), and also
a related question
[here](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/25567/%E3%81%AA%E3%81%8F%E3%81%A1%E3%82%83-is-
the-short-informal-
of-%E3%81%AA%E3%81%8F%E3%81%A6%E3%81%AF%E3%81%84%E3%81%91%E3%81%BE%E3%81%9B%E3%82%93-but-
why-is-
there-%E3%81%AA%E3%81%8F%E3%81%A1%E3%82%83%E3%81%84%E3%81%91%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84%E3%81%AE-
rather-than-%E3%81%AA).

In short, it's

> As for you, it must be a dim cloudy day or night or else you won't come out.

Edit: Also see Eiríkr Útlendi's comment.
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answer
The existing answers aren't wrong, but I think the question hasn't been fully
answered yet.

なくては usually means "without" in a broad sense. Its meaning is actually more
neutral than the "unless" translation that user4092 mentioned, and is often a
hypothetical condition. Example:

辞書がなくては分からない.

It's important to distinguish also between -ては and -て:

  * 分からなくては心配です "Without understanding (i.e. unless I've understood), it's a worry"
  * 分からなくて心配です "I'm worried about my not understanding"

In the second example, 分からない is an actuality, not just hypothetical like in
the first example.

> What does the verb after なくちゃ or なくては mean?

More generally, なくては means something like "[something] not being [the case]
(at least), what follows will/did occur/is true/is my assertion." This is
actually a very broad pattern: gerund + は. See chapter 22B of JSL (which I
lifted the above examples from).

You can also follow with an adjectival, or any other predicate: 直さなくては危ないよ！

Even これじゃありません is an instance of this pattern (the gerund being で, where では is
contracted to じゃ): this being the case/thing under consideration, it isn't
that -> "as for this, it's not" -> "it's not this at least" -> "(it's) not
this".

Also, as alternates for "must" there are patterns with と and with the
provisional, which are beyond the scope of this question. See [What is と in
this sentence?](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/25707/what-
is-%E3%81%A8-in-this-sentence/25714#25714) and [Difference between ~なきゃ and
~なくちゃ](https://japanese.stackexchange.com/questions/4213/difference-
between-%E3%81%AA%E3%81%8D%E3%82%83-and-%E3%81%AA%E3%81%8F%E3%81%A1%E3%82%83/4216#4216)
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answer