The verb have

A Have and have got

Look at these examples.

HAVE

We have three cats.

Emma has toothache.

Daniel doesn't have a car.

Do you have the address? ~ Yes, I do.

HAVE GOT

We've got three cats.

Vicky has got blue eyes.

I haven't got any money.

Have you got a ticket? ~ No, I haven't

Here have and have got mean the same thing. We can normally use either form. But have got is more informal. Note that we do not use have got in short answers (No, I haven't).

B Forms

PRESENT TENSE

HAVE HAVE GOT

POSITIVE

I/you/we/they have I/you/we/they have got OR I/you/we/they've got

he/she/it have he/she/it has got OR he/she/it's got

NEGATIVE

I/you/we/they don't have I/you/we/they haven't got

he/she/it doesn't have he/she/it hasn't got

QUESTION

do I/you/we/they have? have I/you/we/ got?

does he/she/it have? has he/she/it he/she/it got?

PAST TENSE

HAVE

POSITIVE

I/you/he/she/it/we/they had

NEGATIVE

I/you/he/she/it/we/they didn't have

QUESTION

did I/you/he/she/it/we/they have?

We do not often use had got in the past tense.

Tom had several jobs to do.

We didn't have time to stop.

Why did you have that funny hat on?

C The action verb have

Here are some examples of have as an action verb.

Mark has lunch around one.

I have a shower every morning.

The children had a game of cards.

We had a wonderful holiday.

Have expresses an action. Mark has lunch means that he eats lunch.

With the action verb have we cannot use got and we cannot use a short form.

NOT Mark has got lunch around one

NOT I've a shower every morning.

The action verb have can also be continuous.

Mark is having lunch now.

We were having a conversation in English.

What time are you having your driving lesson?

In negatives and questions in simple tenses, we use a form of do.

We didn't have a very good time.

We don't have parties very often.

Where do you have lunch?

How often does Vicky have strange dreams?

In English we often use expressions like have a talk instead of a verb like talk. Here are some examples.

Shall we have a swim?

I usually have a rest in the afternoon.

I had a talk with Daniel.

Trevor and Laura are having an argument.