22 Have/Have got - Interrogative

Have/have got is a verb used to express states like possession, relationship, illnesses and the characteristics of people and things.

When expressed in itsinterrogative form, it is used to ask questions about the possession of something.

Have and have got are two variations of the verb.

Present simple of “to have” - Interrogative

The interrogative form of the verb to have has this structure:
Do/does + subject + have + …?

• Do/does: in the interrogative form the third person singular changes from do to does.

Present simple of “to have got” - Interrogative

The interrogative form of the verb to have got has this structure:
Have/has + subject + got + …?

• Have/has: in the interrogative form the third person singular changes from have to has.

Have

• Do you have lunch at 2 p.m.?
• Did she have two dogs?; Does she have two dogs?; Will she have two dogs?

Have got

• Have you got lunch at 2 p.m.?
• Had she got two dogs?; Has she got two dogs?; Will she have got two dogs?

Have and have got in the interrogative form: Do I have..?and Have I got…? are used when we want to ask if someone/something possesses someone/something. There is almost no differences in meaning between them.

Have and have got are used similarly to express possession, relationships, illnesses and characteristics. However they’re not completely interchangeable, below you can read the differences between them:

Have:

• Can be used to talk about actions;
• Can be used to talk about past, present and future.

Have got:

• Cannot be used to talk about actions;
• Can be used just to talk about the present.

Have and have got are two forms of a common verb. We use these verbs to express states such as possession and relationship.

We can use the two forms in their interrogative forms to form questions. However, it must be noted that the two forms are not interchangeable (we cannot use either one of them instead of the other all the time).

Have can be used to talk about actions, past, present and future.

• The structure is as follows:
  Do + subject + have + …? (does for the third person singular).

Have got cannot be used to talk about actions. Can be used just to talk about the present.

• The structure is as follows:
  Have + subject + got + …? (has for the third person singular).

For example:
— “Do I have a shy personality?” / “Have I got a shy personality?“ = We use have because it is an action.
— “Have I got a car?” = We use have got because we talk about possessing something in the present.

NOTE: Have is also used as an auxiliary verb in certain tenses to talk about actions, we cannot use have got for this.

Let’s revise this content within the {Form} section. Take a look at the {Example} section that shows its use within a context.