Unit 4.2

Have and Have got Affirmative


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Introduction

Have/have got is a verb used to express states like possession, relationship, illnesses and the characteristics of people and things.

When expressed in its affirmative form, the verb confirms something about the subject.

Form

The present simple tenses of have and have got are:

To have

Its structure, in the affirmative form, is:
Subject + have/has + object + …

  • Have/has: in the affirmative form, the third person singular changes from have to has;
  • There is no short version of have in the affirmative form for the third person singular.
Subject have/has Short form
I have I‘ve
You have You‘ve
He has
She has
It has
We have We‘ve
You have You‘ve
They have They‘ve

To have got

Its structure, in the affirmative form, is:
Subject + have/has got + object + …

  • Have/has: in the affirmative form, the third person singular changes from have to has.
Subject have/has got Short form
I have got I’ve got
You have got You’ve got
He has got He’s got
She has got She’s got
It has got It’s got
We have got We’ve got
You have got You’ve got
They have got They’ve got

Example

To have:

  • have lunch at 2 p.m.
  • She has two dogs. 
  • We have a large family. 
  • They‘ve a big pool. 

To have got:

  • You have got things to do. 
  • She has got a new boyfriend.
  • We’ve got some news. 
  • You’ve got a car.

Use

We use have and have got when we confirm that someone possesses someone/something. We use them also to express relationships, illnesses and characteristics of people and things. However, they’re not completely interchangeable.

To have:

  • can be used to express actions;
  • can be used to express past, present and future.

To have got:

  • cannot be used to express actions;
  • can only be used to express the present.

Summary

Have and have got, in the affirmative form, are used to confirm states such as posessions, relationships, illnesses and characteristics of the subject. However, we cannot use one instead of the other.

  • Have can be used to express actions in the past, present and future. In the affirmative form, we start with the subject followed by have and an object. In the third person singular, we use has.
  • Have got cannot be used to express actions and can be used just to express the present. In the affirmative form, we start with the subject followed by have got and an object. In the third person singular, we use has got.

For example:
— “I have lunch at 2 p.m.” / “I have got lunch at 2 p.m.” = We use have because it is an action.
— “I have a car.” / “I’ve got a car.” = We use have and have got because it is the possession of something in the present.

NOTE: Have is also used as an auxiliary verb in certain tenses to talk about actions. We cannot use have got for this. (“You have done it.” / You have got done it.).

Let’s revise this content within the {Form} section. Take a look at the {Example} section that shows its use within a context.

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