have
- 01 A1 Beginner
v.to own something or have it with you.
v.to possess or own a physical object or an abstract quality. Transitive — requires a direct object.
Simple“I have a new laptop that I use for my university work.”
In context“The company doesn't have the necessary resources to expand into the European market this year.”
UsageIn the present tense, 'have got' is a common informal alternative to 'have' for possession.
PitfallI am having a car. I have a car.When 'have' means 'to own', it is a stative verb and is not usually used in the continuous (-ing) form.
- 02 A1 Beginner
v.to describe your family, friends, or the parts of something.
v.to state the existence of a relationship or a constituent part.
Simple“She has two brothers and a sister who live in London.”
In context“The new apartment building has a rooftop garden and a small gym for the residents.”
- 03 A1 Beginner
v.to eat a meal or drink something.
v.to consume food, drink, or other substances.
Simple“We are having dinner at a nice Italian restaurant tonight.”
In context“Would you like to have a coffee while we wait for the rest of the team to arrive?”
UsageUnlike the 'possession' sense, this sense can be used in the continuous (-ing) form.
- 04 A1 Beginner
v.to go through an event or feel an emotion.
v.to undergo or experience an event, activity, or state of mind.
Simple“I hope you have a great time at the party tonight.”
In context“The passengers had a very difficult journey due to the heavy snow and train cancellations.”
Synonyms - 05 A2 Elementary
v.a helper word used with another verb to talk about the past.
v.an auxiliary verb used with a past participle to form the perfect aspect.
Simple“I have already seen that movie three times.”
In context“By the time the police arrived, the suspects had already fled the scene through the back exit.”
UsageFollowed by a past participle (e.g., 'have seen', 'has gone').
- 06 B1 Intermediate
v.to make someone do something or arrange for a job to be done.
v.to cause something to be done by someone else; often used in the 'have something done' structure.
Simple“I need to have my car repaired before our road trip.”
In context“The manager had his assistant book the flights and prepare the presentation for the conference.”
UsageOften follows the pattern: have + object + past participle.
- 07 C1 Advanced
v.to trick or deceive someone.
v.to deceive or outwit someone, often used in the passive voice.
Simple“He realized too late that he had been had by the street performer.”
In context“The investors soon discovered they had been had by a sophisticated Ponzi scheme that promised impossible returns.”
- 08 B2 Upper Intermediate
n.a person who has a lot of money and many things.
n.a person who possesses significant wealth or social privilege; usually used in the plural phrase 'the haves and the have-nots'.
Simple“The gap between the haves and the have-nots is growing in many cities.”
In context“The documentary explores the social tensions that arise when the haves live in gated communities right next to impoverished slums.”
have vs have got — Have got is an informal, present-tense alternative to have for possession and obligation, used primarily in British English.
Usage have affinity · have capability · have consequence
For Spanish speakers Written 'h' is silent in Spanish, so the initial /h/ of 'have' is dropped or replaced with the velar fricative /x/ of 'jamón'.
Spanish expresses existence with impersonal 'hay' (from 'haber'), which is transferred onto 'have' and produces 'have a book on the table' for 'there is a book on the table'.
In Spanish, one 'takes' a coffee (tomar un café), leading learners to say 'take a coffee' or 'take breakfast' instead of the natural English collocation 'have a coffee'.
For Mandarin speakers Mandarin lacks a distinct auxiliary verb for the perfect aspect, using the particle 了 (le) instead. This often leads learners to omit 'have' in perfect constructions, resulting in 'I finished already' instead of 'I have finished'.
The Mandarin verb for taking medicine is 吃 (chī), which literally means 'eat'. This produces the common error 'eat medicine' (吃药, chī yào) instead of the standard English collocation 'take medicine'.
For Japanese speakers Japanese phonology lacks the /v/ sound, so speakers substitute it with the voiced bilabial plosive /b/. This causes the word to be pronounced as 'habu' /habɯ/.
Japanese verbs like ある (aru) and いる (iru) express existence or possession regardless of the subject's person. Because Japanese lacks subject-verb agreement (e.g., 'have' vs 'has'), learners often produce 'He have' by carrying over the invariant Japanese verb structure.
In Japanese, 薬を飲む (kusuri o nomu) literally translates to 'drink medicine'. This L1 structure leads to the error 'drink medicine' instead of the standard English collocation 'have medicine' or 'take medicine'.
For French speakers French speakers frequently omit the voiceless glottal fricative /h/ because French has no equivalent phoneme; 'have' /hæv/ is often mispronounced as /æv/.
French uses 'avoir' (to have) for age and physical states where English requires 'to be'. This leads to errors such as 'I have 20 years' (J'ai 20 ans) or 'I have hunger' (J'ai faim) instead of 'I am 20' or 'I am hungry'.
The French verb 'prendre' (to take) is used for meals and drinks, leading learners to say 'take a coffee' or 'take breakfast' instead of the natural English collocations 'have a coffee' or 'have breakfast'.