Lesson 14. The Complete Guide to Verb TO HAVE in English

After the verb to be, ‘the verb to have’ ranks as the second most commonly used verb in English. The verb to have in English can be used as the main verb or an auxiliary verb.

 

Verb Forms

Simple Present Tense

[Click on the subtitle to learn more about simple present tense]

Positive	Positive (Contracted)	Negative	Negative (Contracted)	Question
I have	I’ve	I do not have (A,B) I have not (B)	I don’t have (A,B) I haven’t (B)	Do I have?
You have	You’ve	You do not have (A,B) You have not (B)	You don’t have (A,B) You haven’t (B)	Do you have?
We have	We’ve	We do not have (A,B) We have not (B)	We don’t have (A,B) We haven’t (B)	Do we have?
They have	They’ve	They do not have (A,B) They have not (B)	They don’t have (A,B) They haven’t (B)	Do they have?
He has	He’s	He does not have (A,B) He has not (B)	He doesn’t have (A,B) He hasn’t (B)	Does he have?
She has	She’s	She does not have (A,B) She has not (B)	She doesn’t have (A,B) She hasn’t (B)	Does she have?
It has	It’s	It does not have (A,B) It has not (B)	It doesn’t have (A,B) It hasn’t (B)	Does it have?

Note:

– There is no contracted form of the verb to have in question form.

– (‘s) contraction can be used for indicating both the verb to be ‘is’ and the verb to have ‘has’.

– (A,B) means that it is used in both American and British English.

– (B) means that it is acceptable in British English.

– Auxiliary verb only used the version of haven’t and hasn’t (Not: do not have or does not have).

 

Simple Past Tense

Positive	Positive (Contracted)	Negative	Negative (Contracted)	Question
I had	I’d	I did not have	I didn’t have	Did I have?
You had	You’d	You did not have	You didn’t have	Did you have?
We had	We’d	We did not have	We didn’t have	Did we have?
They had	They’d	They did not have	They didn’t have	Did they have?
He had	He’d	He did not have	He didn’t have	Did he have?
She had	She’d	She did not have	She didn’t have	Did she have?
It had	It’d	It did not have	It didn’t have	Did it have?

Note:

– There is no contracted form of the verb to have in question form.

– The contraction form is normally used in conversation but not in formal writing.

– (‘d) contraction can be used for indicating both the verb ‘would’ and the verb to have ‘had’.

 

Present Continuous Tense

Positive	Positive (Contracted)	Negative	Negative (Contracted)	Question
I am having	I’m having	I am not having	I’m not having	Am I having?
You are having	You’re having	You are not having	You’re not having You aren’t having	Are you having?
We are having	We’re having	We are not having	We’re not having We aren’t having	Are we having?
They are having	They’re having	They are not having	They’re not having They aren’t having	Are they having?
He is having	He’s having	He is not having	He’s not having He isn’t having	Is he having?
She is having	She’s having	She is not having	She’s not having She isn’t having	Is she having?
It is having	It’s having	It is not having	It’s not having It isn’t having	Is it having?

Note: There is no contracted form of the verb to have in question form.

 

Past Continuous Tense

Positive	Negative	Negative (Contracted)	Question
I was having	I was not having	I wasn’t having	Was I having?
You were having	You were not having	You weren’t having	Were you having?
We were having	We were not having	We weren’t having	Were we having?
They were having	They were not having	They weren’t having	Were they having?
He was having	He was not having	He wasn’t having	Was he having?
She was having	She was not having	She wasn’t having	Was she having?
It was having	It was not having	It wasn’t having	Was it having?

Note: There are no contracted form of the verb to have in positive and question forms.

 

Present Perfect Tense

Positive	Positive (Contracted)	Negative	Negative (Contracted)	Question
I have had	I’ve had	I have not had	I haven’t had	Have I had?
You have had	You’ve had	You have not had	You haven’t had	Have you had?
We have had	We’ve had	We have not had	We haven’t had	Have we had?
They have had	They’ve had	They have not had	They haven’t had	Have they had?
He has had	He’s had	He has not had	He hasn’t had	Has he had?
She has had	She’s had	She has not had	She hasn’t had	Has she had?
It has had	It’s had	It has not had	It hasn’t had	Has it had?

Note: There is no contracted form of the verb to have in question form.

 

Past Perfect Tense

Positive	Positive (Contracted)	Negative	Negative (Contracted)	Question
I had had	I’d had	I had not had	I hadn’t had	Had I had?
You had had	You’d had	You had not had	You hadn’t had	Had you had?
We had had	We’d had	We had not had	We hadn’t had	Had we had?
They had had	They’d had	They had not had	They hadn’t had	Had they had?
He had had	He’d had	He had not had	He hadn’t had	Had he had?
She had had	She’d had	She had not had	She hadn’t had	Had she had?
It had had	It’d had	It had not had	It hadn’t had	Had it had?

Note: There is no contracted form of the verb to have in question form.

 

Have/Have Not Questions

In order to construct have/have not questions, we use the auxiliary verb ‘do, does, did’, depending on the subject and tense. Examples:

Positive: I have a dog.

Question: Do you have a dog?

 

Positive: She has long hair.

Question: Does she have long hair?

 

Positive: They had a party last night.

Question: Did they have a party last night?

 

Have/Have Not Answers

To answer the questions above, we can use the following:

Positive Answer: Yes, I have a dog (Yes, I have).

Negative Answer: No, I don’t have a dog (No, I don’t).

 

Positive Answer: Yes, she has long hair (Yes, she has).

Negative Answer: No, she doesn’t have long hair (No, she doesn’t).

 

Positive Answer: Yes, they had a party last night (Yes, they had).

Negative Answer: No, they didn’t have a party last night (No, they didn’t).

 

Main Verb

As a main verb, ‘the verb to have’ shows possession, characteristic, activity, etc. Examples:

She has a bakery.

[possession].

 

I have brown eyes.

[ability].

 

He had a shower.

[activity].

 

In fact, ‘the verb to have’ is generally used for substituting ‘the verb to eat’ and ‘the verb to drink’.

We have scrambled eggs every morning.

[We eat scrambled eggs every morning].

 

I had a cup of tea in the afternoon.

[I drank a cup of tea in the afternoon].

 

Auxiliary Verb

The verb to have can be used as an auxiliary verb in order to form present perfect tense and past perfect tense.

Structure: Have/Has/Had + Verb 3

 

Examples:

Positive: I have lived in Switzerland for 20 years.

Negative: I haven’t lived in Switzerland for 20 years.

Question: Have you lived in Switzerland for 20 years?

[Verb 1 = live; Verb 3 = lived].

 

Positive: It has been a long time since we talked.

Negative: It hasn’t been a long time since we talked.

Question: Has it been a long time since we talked?

[Verb 1 = to be; Verb 3 = been].

 

Positive: We had walked for all day.

Negative: We hadn’t walked for all day.

Question: Had we walked for all day.

[Verb 1 = walk; Verb 3 = walked].

 

Note: Verb 3 is also known as past participle form of the verb.

 

Contraction Forms

When we use ‘have/has/had’ as the main verb, they are not abbreviated.

I have two movie tickets.

[Not: I’ve two movie tickets].

 

We had lunch in a French restaurant.

[Not: We’d lunch in a French restaurant].

 

As an auxiliary verb, ‘have/has/had’ are usually used in spoken English rather than in written English.

 

Contraction forms are normally used in the perfect form tenses.

 

Additional Notes

In addition, ‘to have’ can also serve as a modal verb. In general, the modal verb to have carries a meaning of something that is obligatory. We will cover the full lesson in the upcoming post.

 

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