How to Use Have and Have Got

Learn how to use the present forms Have and Have Got for possession with our two free printable grammar worksheets – ready to download now!

How to Use Have and Have Got – Image 1

‘Have’ and ‘have got’ both generally mean the same thing, although ‘have’ is more common in American English and ‘have got’ is more common in British English. One reason for this may be that ‘have got’ provides stronger sentence stress than ‘have’, which is preferred in British English. For example:

have: He has a new car.

‘Has’ tends to be unstressed or lightly stressed. We do not hear the rhythm that is familiar in British English:

have got: He’s got a new car.

‘Got’ provides a strong stress, before the weak stressed article ‘a’, followed by two strong stresses ‘new car’, creating a satisfying ‘up and down’ rhythm more typical of British English.

Additionally, we can say that ‘have’ is more formal and used in written English more often, while ‘have got’ is more informal and used in spoken English more frequently.

Note: in the categories above, have got is a present perfect form, but with a present simple meaning. It is therefore an anomaly in English. It is neither present simple nor present perfect, but rather an adjunct to present simple that is only used in regular time in the present for possession (states) rather than actions.

Here are some of the errors that often occur with this topic:

How to Use Have and Have Got – Image 2

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