Learn English Grammar: 'to have' in the present tense

TRANSCRIPT

Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid. In the next few minutes you're going to master one of the most important verbs in the English language, and that's the verb "to have". Now, not only is it one of the most important verbs because we use it so often for so many different things, it's also, unfortunately, a verb where a lot of students make mistakes, especially at a basic level. And sometimes these basic mistakes can cause problems even down the road when you reach advanced levels. So, whether you're a beginner student, or intermediate, or advanced - please watch and just make sure you know it; and if you're reviewing it, make sure that you review it really, really well. Okay? So, here we go.

So, with the verb "to have", one of the reasons it's so important is because we use it not only as a basic verb by itself, but we also use it as a helping verb. All right? When we use it as a basic verb by itself, we can use it to show possession; what somebody has, what somebody owns. For example, you could talk about an object that you have, a thing that you have. You could say: "I have a car." You could talk about somebody's features, or qualities, or characteristics. For example: "She has nice hair." Or you could talk about relationships that people have, for example: "They have children." Okay? You can also use the verb "to have" to talk about actions, and we use this a lot. Like: "I... I have a shower every day. I have dinner at 7 o'clock." Or: "He has a lot of meetings today." Right? So, we use it in so many different ways. And, of course, as I said, we also use it in more advanced ways as a helping verb in our perfect tenses. For example: "I have done my homework." Okay?

So, let's begin understanding exactly how this simple verb is structured. All right. So, I've divided the board into three sections: positive, negative, and questions. So, you'll learn exactly how to use it in all three situations, and those are the only situations. Okay? So, first: "I have", "You have", "We have", and "They have". With these four pronouns, we say: "have", and that's our base form of the verb, and that's what we use here.

But where does it change, and where do most of the mistakes happen? They happen, here. For: "he", "she", and "it", we don't say "have". We have to say: "has". "He has a car.", "She has a car.", "It has a camera." Okay? Your cellphone, for example. All right? So, make sure that you remember this, because this part is very important. You will see that actually we don't have "has" in any other section of this entire structure, but we do have it here. Okay? I'll come back to it.

Now, what happens when we make the sentence negative? So, instead of saying: "I have a camera", you can say: "I don't have a camera." What is "don't"? "Don't" is short for "do not", but when we're speaking, we just shorten it, we contract it, and it becomes "don't". "I don't have a camera, you don't have a camera, we don't have a camera, and they don't have a camera, so we're not going to take any pictures." Okay? All right. "Don't have".

Now, what happens when we're saying: "he", "she", or "it"? Now, two things happen. First of all, we have to use a different word, here. We don't say: "do not", we say: "does not". When we shorten it, it becomes: "He doesn't". And then you come back to the base form of the verb, so you say: "He doesn't have". Not: "He doesn't has", which is a mistake that many students make, but you're coming back to the base form of the verb. Look at all the places where we see the base form of the verb. Okay? Here, here, here, here, here. So, where do we not have the base form of the verb? Only with: "he", "she", and "it" in the positive sentence. Okay? So, let's come back: "He doesn't have a car.", "She doesn't have a car.", and "It doesn't have a camera." Okay? That's the negative.

Now, if you want to ask a question, then, again, we're going to use the words: "do" and "does". So, here: "Do I have...?", "Do you have...?", "Do we have...?", "Do they have...?" All right? And with: "he", "she", and "it", you have to use the word "does". "Does he have a camera?", "Does she have a cellphone?", "Does it have an air conditioner?" Okay? The... The room. All right?

[transporter]

Hi madam. I really love your teaching. It helps me a lot to learn and improve my language. A big thanks to you madam. May God bless you abundantly. Thank you so much

[Nadezhda]

She is so positive and has such a sweet smile. It`s really nice to see and listen to her here in You Tube. Rebecca seems to be a very good person. Best wishes to all.

[SharlaSam]

I'm an intermediate student and I really wanted to be an advanced student in English. I really thanked God that I found you Ms. Rebecca. I had difficulties in grammar but now it's easy for me to study and to learn grammar because of you. Thank you so much. God bless you.

[satyakidasgupta]

You are the best teacher in YT that I have came across ❤

[ruthjimeno]

Thanks for all you help and support. Ruth x

[rafaelo.m]

It's Very easy to understand you Rebeca. Thank you for helping us!

[armandodelcid]

Muy muy simple y muy muy claro.
Well done Rebeca.

[muhammadiam]

her teaching system is so amazing, , thanks very much Rebecca

[giannicr]

Thanks so much Teacher Rebecca It's so great to learn from you, thank you for teaching us

[uttambishwakarma]

In 2023 I am watching this video. It's beautiful video to learn English grammar.
Thank you teacher 🙏😊

[pachin]

Thank you Rebecca this helped me so much

[hamidmohammed]

Really this teacher with her sweet smile attracted me so strongly to continue and Follow all her vedios, really nice teacher. She has full trust on herself, wish her good safe successful working life.

[arulventhan]

Thank you so much Rebecca, I have learning lot

[JuliaOmelchenko]

Such a good lesson! Thank you so much, Rebecca!

[devandgouri]

Thankyou rebeca.... This is one of the mistake I was doing earlier.. I dont know what happens to' has 'in some negative sentences.. Now only i got the answer..very very happy..
.

[alisharif]

Thank you very much indeed for your good lessons.

[thitesmarantz]

I like the way you explained everything.

[angelwu]

Thank, Rebeca.Your english are very useful

[ecgingyit]

Thank you Mama.
I'm from Myanmar (Burma).
I'm learning with you.
I have understood many ways to improve in English. I'm not good in English so if my sentence grammar has something mistake pls, understand on me. Thank you Mama.

[helenitathomas]

Thank you, Rebecca. You are helping me so much!!👍👍👍💗💗😘