Have and Have Got

It is one of the busiest verbs in English. It works as a main verb, mostly to show possession, and as the auxiliary that builds the perfect tenses. Alongside it sits "have got", the everyday British way of talking about what you own, who is in your family and how you feel. This guide sets out how to conjugate "have" across the tenses, how to form "have got" in its contracted, negative and question versions, and when to choose one over the other.

Have in the present

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

Have in the present

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" (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?".

Have got versus have

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".

Common mistakes

Two errors are especially common. First, using the continuous for possession: write "I have a car", not "I am having a car" (though "I am having lunch" for the activity is fine). Second, pushing "have got" into the past: there is no "had got" for possession, so use plain "had" instead. Watch these two and your everyday English will sound markedly more natural.