Which is Correct? - How to Use 'Have' Correctly! | EASY ENGLISH VOCABULARY

Using 'Have' | Speak Fluently - EASY ENGLISH VOCABULARY

There are some verbs in the English language which are not easy to define, and a lot of this confusion comes from the way they can be used in many different ways. Some examples of these are ‘get’, ‘take’, ‘set’, ‘go’ and, the one we’ll be focusing on today, ‘have’.

Have is quite a special verb, as there is no single definition for it. But don’t worry, as long as you know which situations we use have in, you’ll be fine!

There are times when ‘Have’ can simply be used to replace a different verb. The first example of this is by replacing the words eat and drink. For example, every morning I have a cup of coffee and a bowl of cereal. Last night I had pizza for dinner. I’m going to have pasta for dinner tonight.

Another verb that is often replaced by have is “take”. Instead of saying “take a seat” or “take a shower”, we can say: “please sir, have a seat” or “It’s really hot outside, I’m going to have a shower!”

Now let’s move on to a more standard usage of have, and that’s when describing ownership or possession of something. In these situations we use have to explain that something belongs to.
For instance, I have two dogs and a cat. I have green eyes. I don’t have a car as I live downtown. You may also hear native English speakers saying “have got” for possessions. This is also completely fine, and is almost always interchangeable when talking about possessions. I could just have easily said “I have got 2 dogs and a cat” or “I have got green eyes”. Remember, it’s much more natural to but the subject and have together as a contraction when using ‘got’, so you should say “I’ve got” not “I have got” when speaking.

The next usage of have is also a type of possession, but perhaps one you don’t want. An illness or injury. When we are sick, we can say “I have a headache”, “I have a stomachache” or “I have a fever”.

The last usage of ‘have’ we’ll look at today is an auxiliary verb. Have can be used with all perfect tenses, in either present or past form. Just remember, that if we are using ‘have’ as an auxiliary verb, the negative form is haven’t. For the other examples, we will say “don’t have” or “didn’t have” and so on, depending on the tense.

Also important to remember is how “have” changes, depending on the subject. For the subjects I, You, We and They we say “have”, for He, She and It, we use “has”.

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