We Have Got a Problem with “We Have Got”

Many learners I know have got problems with “I have got”. For some it’s the form of the construction; for others the tense; but for most the problem is “what’s the difference between “have got” and “have”???????


Good question!


I have a headache / I have got a headache


I don’t have a car / I haven’t got a car


Do you have to go? / Have you got to go?


What’s the difference???


In some grammar books the authors bend over backwards (<- idiom = try very hard) to find a difference; I think some even invent differences!!


Here is my solution:


I have and I have got mean the SAME!


Now, that is not so difficult, is it?


What I have noticed is that people use I have got more in Britain and not so much in USA.


The form of I have etc is the same as any normal verb – see: Present Simple / Past Simple etc.


So we say:


I have … / he has …


I don’t have … / he doesn’t have …


Do you have …? / Does he have …?




The form of I have got etc is the same as the Present Perfect.


So we say:


I have got … / he has got …


I haven’t got … / he hasn’t got …


Have you got …? / has he got …?


This means it is maybe a little more complicated than I have. Also we normally don’t use I have got in the past tense:


I have got a meeting at 10 today (present of have got)


I had a meeting at 10 yesterday (past of have)


In my courses I tell people that it is enough to know that have got exists and that people use it but – and this is the GOOD NEWS – you don’t need to use it and therefore you don’t really need to learn it!!


Just use have and that’s enough!


English is Easy! does it again!!