Have and Have Got

As a main verb, have has just two present forms, which is what makes it easy: has for the third person singular and have for everyone else.

Have in the past and future

The past simple is the same for every person, had, as in I had a bike when I was young and they had a lovely holiday. The future simple uses will have for every person: I will have more news tomorrow, we will have room for you.

Have as an auxiliary: the perfect tenses

Have also works as the auxiliary that builds the perfect tenses, combining with a past participle. The present perfect is have or has plus the participle: I have finished, she has had enough. The past perfect is had plus the participle: by Friday we had had three meetings. The future perfect is will have plus the participle: by June I will have had this car for ten years. Here have carries no meaning of possession; it simply signals the tense.

The conditional

The conditional uses would have: I would have a coffee if there were time. The conditional perfect is would have had: we would have had a better view from the top floor. This mood expresses situations that depend on a condition, real or imagined.

Possession does not take the continuous

One point catches many learners out. When have means possession, it is not used in the continuous form, so you would not say I am having a car. When have describes an activity or experience, though, the continuous is perfectly natural: I am having lunch, we are having a great time, she is having a shower. Same verb, two very different behaviours.

What have got means

Have got, made up of have or has plus got, is used mainly to talk about possessions and personal attributes, and it means the same as have. You can also use it for relationships, appearance, illnesses and timetabled events: I have got two sisters, he has got a cold, we have got a meeting at three. It is chiefly British and a little less formal than have, which is why it turns up so often in conversation.

The forms of have got

The structure is have or has plus got, and in speech it is almost always contracted. Use have for I, you, we and they, and has for he, she and it. In the affirmative, I have got becomes I've got and she has got becomes she's got. In the negative, add not: they have not got a dog becomes they haven't got a dog, and she has not got a bike becomes she hasn't got a bike. For questions, put have or has before the subject: Have you got a minute?, Has he got any brothers?

For possession, the two are interchangeable in meaning, but they behave differently. Have is a little more formal and is preferred in writing and in American English, while have got is more common in British speech. They also form questions and negatives differently: have uses do, as in Do you have a car? and I do not have a car, whereas have got does not, as in Have you got a car? and I haven't got a car. One more key point: have got is used only in the present tense. For the past you use had, not had got: I had a bike when I was young.