Have got vs. have

Welcome to ESL Printables, the website where English Language teachers exchange resources: worksheets, lesson plans, activities, etc.
Our collection is growing every day with the help of many teachers. If you want to download you have to send your own contributions.

ESL Forum:

Techniques and methods in Language Teaching

Games, activities and teaching ideas

Grammar and Linguistics

Teaching material

Concerning worksheets

Concerning powerpoints

Concerning online exercises

Make suggestions, report errors

Ask for help

Message board

ESL forum > Grammar and Linguistics > Have got vs. have

Have got vs. have

mendiv

Have got vs. have

I �m wondering how different the use of "have got" vs. "have" is around the world. I was always taught that since "have" and "got" mean almost the same thing you should not use them together. My dad would have lectured me for an hour for things I see in a lot of the worksheets on here. I know that language changes over time so that things that were considered wrong many years ago are acceptable today, but I haven �t heard anything about this case.

examples:

I haven �t got my book today. vs. I don �t have my book today.

Have you got a pen? vs. Do you have a pen?

I don �t mean to be snippy about this; I just wondered if I had missed something.

Thanks everyone!
Smile

25 Mar 2009

littlecityblue

In British English, we use the first examples - haven �t got & have you got. American English doesn �t use got. In schools that require British English to be taught, you �ll find have got, which explains why it appears on worksheets.

Sara

25 Mar 2009

douglas

This is a great topic mendiv--I was discussing this with some of my students today.

Being a US native, I almost always use "I have/ do you have?" and it used to puzzle me when younger Germans would use "have got/have you got?" with me. I would ask about it and they always said they learned it that way in school. It is even taught pretty early in the curiculum. I thought the teachers were nuts for teaching such a complicated concept that is so rarely used so early in their courses.

Through time I have learned that use of the "have got" form is VERY common in the UK, so it is basically necessary to teach it early on.

I still prefer "have/do you have?" and usually teach that form, when we come across "have got", I explain it and its use shortly and move on.

Douglas

25 Mar 2009

eng789

I �m Canadian, and I think that - Have you got any money?

I haven �t got any.

I �ve got some money.

are what we say.

So I assume it comes from the British.

25 Mar 2009

mendiv

Thank you for explaining this puzzle (great word for it, Douglas) to me!

Just to add more confusion, I WOULD say, "I have gotten sick several times this year," or
"I �ve gotten presents from my uncle every Christmas."

Mendi

25 Mar 2009

Zora

Here you are using the Present Perfect tense of "get... sick, mad, wet..." and it has a similar form as the "Have got" tense but it �s not the same even though it looks like it.

25 Mar 2009

mendiv

Okay, I see, Zora. Now we are talking about using �get � to mean �become �. That would make a difference in the US. What about in other parts of the world?

Also, if using �get � to mean �receive � we can use �have gotten � to indicate continuous receiving over time...I think. :)

Mendi

25 Mar 2009

Zora

Yes exactly... you would say for example: "She has gotten money from her aunt".... or "We have gotten many complaints over the years about the sound"...

Smile

25 Mar 2009

Brainteaser

"We have got many complaints..."

Which sounds more like British English, that�s for sure

25 Mar 2009

arkel

In British English we would never say gotten. we use have got when we talk about possession and only in present. We never use got with have in past. I �ve got a book; I had a book. When have has another meaning, eat, drink, etc., we never use got. I have breakfast, I have a cup of coffee.

25 Mar 2009