Have and have got

'Is this correct: How many subsidiaries does your company have got?' (Magrit)

'I cannot understand the use of have had and had had.' (Subrata)

'have' / 'have got'

When we are talking about possession, relationships, illnesses and characteristics of people or things we can use either have or have got. The have got forms are more common in an informal style.

Have got has the same meaning as have and both are used as present tenses. Note that have got is NOT the present perfect of get.

To make questions and negative sentences with have we normally use the auxiliary verb do. To make questions and negative sentences with have got we use the auxiliary verb have. So your question, Magrit, with have got must be formed as follows:

How many subsidiaries has your company got?

Study these further examples and note that in informal speech we often switch from one form to the other:

- How many subsidiaries does your company have?

- It has two.

- How many sisters do you have?

- I’ve got three (sisters).

- Do you all have your own bedrooms?

- Sue’s got her own bedroom, but neither Debbie nor I have. We have to share.

(Note in this last example that have to is used as an alternative to must because the need to share is imposed on the sisters.)

- Have you got a new car, Paul?

- Yes I have. I bought it last week.

- Has it got air conditioning?

- No it hasn’t. But it’s got a CD player.

- Do you have very many CDs?

- I’ve got hundreds.

Note the way in which we form short answers and question tags with have got and have:

- Have you got a sore throat as well as a runny nose?

- No, I haven’t.

- But you’ve got a high temperature, haven’t you?

- Yes, I have.

- Does this music school have enough pianos?

- No, it doesn’t.

- But you have enough opportunities to practise, don’t you?

- No, we don’t.

future forms of 'have'

Note that we normally use the have got form of have only in the present tense. For future reference different forms of have used. Compare the following:

- Have you got tickets for the match on Saturday?

- No, I haven’t. Not yet.

- Will you have them by tomorrow?

- I hope so.

- Have you got any time to help me with my maths homework?

- Not now I haven’t. Sorry.

- Are you going to have any time at the weekend, do you think?

- Yes, I’ll probably have some time then.

past tenses with 'have'

Similarly, for past tenses we use different forms of have, not have got. Compare the following:

- Have you still got a bad headache?

- Yes, I have.

- How long have you had it?

- I’ve had it on and off since yesterday.

- Did you have it at the concert last night?

- Yes, I did. I couldn’t concentrate on the music properly.

'have had' / 'had had'

Have had is the present perfect form of have, Subrata, describing actions or states which started in the past and continue up to the present. Had had is the past perfect form of have, which we use to talk about longer actions or situations which continued up to a past moment that we are describing. Compare the following:

- I’ve had stomach ache ever since I ate those spam sandwiches.

- I’ve got some pills which are good for digestion. Why don’t you take those?

I started out on the five-mile swim after I’d had a good rest. If I hadn’t had a good rest, I would never have completed it. But because I had had a good rest before I started, I completed it in less than two hours.

Note from the above examples that I’ve is the contracted form of I have and I’d is the contracted form of I had. It is also the contracted form of I would:

If I hadn’t had a good rest beforehand, I’d never have completed the five-mile swim.