HAVE, HAS, HAD - English Grammar Basics - Difference Between Have and Has - When to Use Had

Hello there and welcome. My name is Ganesh - I'm from LearnEnglishLab.com

And in this lesson we're going to discuss where to use have, has and had. This

is a very popular question among a lot of English learners. Now before we get

into the rules, remember that the verb have is the base form. That means that has,

and had are not different verbs, they're all just different forms of the same

verb which is have. So we're going to call this the base form.

This verb is used in two ways. First, it's used to show

possession. This means that it shows that you have something. For example if I say

I have a car

it means that I own a car. Or you can say She has two sisters. That of course does

not mean that she owns her sisters. It just means that she is related to these

two people her family. They're her sisters. So here it shows the relationship between

them. So in that way it shows possession. Now have can also be used as a helping verb

Here I have two sentences in the present perfect tense. If you look at this sentence over here

I have finished my homework. In this sentence have is not showing that someone has

something, that's not the function. In this sentence the main verb is finished

that's the main verb. Have is helping this verb and if you hear the sentence, if

someone says I have finish my homework then you might guess that maybe they've just

finished their homework. Or if a kid tells us to his mother he says Mom I've

just finished or I've finished my homework. Can I go out and play now? Then there's some

connection between his finishing the homework and the present because he

wants to go out. So here, it's helping the main verb and it's the same thing over here

Pierre has got a new job. If you hear this you would guess the Pierre has maybe

recently got a job, that's the function of has over here. So have is used in

two main ways - one is to show possession and two as a helping verb

OKnow let's talk about where to use have, has and had. Now which one you choose, that

is which form of have you choose will depend on two things - it depends on the

tense of the sentence and it also depends on the subject of the sentence. Remember that

the subject is who or what is doing the action. Let's first look at the

present tense. If you have a sentence in the present tense and if the subject is I,

you, we, they or any plural noun, then you will use the base form - that is have. So in

sentence, Paul and Amber have a beautiful house. This sentence in the present tense

and here, we have a plural because it's

Paul and Amber - two people, so we're using have. Now if this was only Paul, then we would use have

We might say Paul has a beautiful house. or Amber has a beautiful house. But

because it's two people - Paul and Amber, we use have. Paul and amber have a beautiful house.

Now if the subject is I or you or we or they, we still use have. So I have a

beautiful house. or You have a beautiful house. We have beautiful house etc. Have a

look at this sentence. Here,

Murray has a degree in economics. Murray is a singular noun, so if you have a sentence in

the present tense but the subject is he, she, it or any singular noun, then we will

use has. Murray, once again, is a singular noun so Murray has a degree in economics.

He has a degree in economics. She has a degree in economics etc. Over here I have two

sentences for you in the present perfect tense - I have taught English for six years. We're using

have because the subject is I, But look at this sentence - He has taught English for six

years. Now both of these sentences are basically just the same

The only difference is the subject which is I here and he here. But because the

subject is I the verb is have and because the subject is He, the verb form becomes has

That is the only difference here. So all of these are sentences in the present tense. Now

let's talk about the past

tense. If you have a sentence in the past tense

well it's good news, because no matter what subject you have, you will always

use had. So here They had a car. That means they don't have a car now - They had a car

in the past. But we're using had because it's in the past tense. If this was I it's

still I had a car, You had a car, He had a car, She had a car

Paul and Amber had a car. It doesn't matter what subject - always had. Same

thing over here. Anna had taught English for six years. This sentence is similar to

these two sentences except that this is in the past. So Anna had taught

English for six years but then something happened, maybe she doesn't teach English

anymore because of that. But again whatever subject, you still use had. OK now

I'm going to give you a small test to see if you can use have has and had correctly.

Here I've got five sentences and your job is to fill the blank in each sentence with

the correct form of the verb from the options

OK, let's look at the first sentence - Jennifer _____ two daughters - is it have or has?

The subject of this is Jennifer and this sentence in the present tense. Jennifer

is a noun, she's only one person, so she is a singular noun. Jennifer is a singular noun, so we use has.

Jennifer has two daughters.

Number two - I _____ a pet rabbit when I lived in Texas. The first thing you should

notice is that this sentence is in the past tense

We know that because here we're talking about when I lived in Texas, so that's in

the past. So would you use have or had here? You don't even need to look at the

subject because as soon as you have a sentence in the past tense you can only

use had. You know that as soon as you see a sentence in the past tense. I had a pet

rabbit when I lived in Texas. Number three - Where are you? _____ we been waiting for

you for 45 minutes. This is something that you might say to a friend on the

phone.

Hey where are you? We _____ been waiting for you for a long time for 45 minutes. So would

you say have or has? The subject of this sentence is we and if the subject is we

you use have because this sentence is in the present. This is in fact in the present

perfect tense. So we have been waiting for you for 45 minutes. This is still happening, so it's in the

present, remember.

Number four - The family _____ already eaten dinner when Charles came home. What tense is this in?

Well you should immediately see that this is in

the past tense bcause we're talking about when Charles came home. So have or had? Easy - past tense - had

The family had

already eaten dinner when Charles came home. So when he came home dinner was finished. So no

dinner for Charles. Number five

She _____ a great talent for acting. Have or has? This is in the present and because

we have the subject as she, we're going to use has. Alright, how many of those did you get

correct? Let me know in the comments and if you have any questions let me know in

the comments section as well, and I will see you in another lesson.