Have

The verb have is used as an auxiliary verb

She has run a lovely, deep, bubble bath.
Katie had read about the concert in the newspaper.

and also as a main verb. See Tense.

She is having a bath at the moment.
The driver has had his breakfast, so we can go.

The verb have has the forms: have, has, having, had. The base form of the verb is have. The present participle is having. The past tense and past participle form is had.

The present and past forms are often contracted in everyday speech, especially when have is being used as an auxiliary verb.

The contracted forms are:

have = ’ve	I’ve seen the Queen.
has = ’s	He’s gone on holiday.
	Ian’s behaved badly.
had = ’d	You’d better go home.
	Ian’d left them behind.

The form have contracts to ’ve. This can sound rather like of, especially after other auxiliary verbs.

She would’ve given you something to eat.
You could’ve stayed the night with us.
If he’d asked, I might’ve lent him my car.

Avoid the common mistake of writing of in this case.

As an auxiliary verb, have is used to make the perfect tenses of main verbs.The perfect tenses of main verbs use the appropriate form of have, present or past, followed by the past participle. See The present perfect tense, The past perfect tense, The present perfect continuous tense and The past perfect continuous tense.

I have read some really good books over the holidays.
I had seen the film before.

The negative of a clause containing a compound verb with have is made by adding not or another negative word immediately after the appropriate form of have. In speech, some forms of have also have contracted negative forms.

I have never seen such luxury.
Rachel had not been abroad before.
She had hardly had time to eat when Paul arrived.

present tense and past tense forms that emphasize the negative element:

I/we/you/they’ve not;	he/she/it’s not
I/we/you/he/she/it /they’d not

She’s not told me about it yet.
We’ve not been here before.
They’d not seen him for weeks.

present tense and past tense negative forms that are used less emphatically:

I/we/you/they haven’t;	he/she/it hasn’t
I/we/you/he/she/it /they hadn’t

He hasn’t found anywhere to stay this holiday.
We haven’t been here before.
They hadn’t looked very hard, in my opinion.

As a main verb, have is used to talk about:

states or conditions, such as possession or relationship.

In these uses, continuous tenses are not possible. With this meaning have is sometimes used alone, adding only not to make negatives, and adding nothing to make questions.

I have something for you.
We haven’t anything for you today.
Have you no sense of shame?
The driver has had his breakfast, so we can go.
We had a good time.

It is also often used with forms of do to make negatives and questions.

Do you have a pen?
Does she have my umbrella?
She doesn’t have any brothers or sisters.
Do you have time to see me now?

Have got is an informal form of this main verb use of have, often used in speaking, especially in British English.

I haven’t got any brothers or sisters.
Has she got my umbrella? – Yes, she has.
She hasn’t got any money.

activities, including those such as eating, and leisure.

With this meaning of have, negatives and questions are formed using one of the forms of do.

He was having a shower when I phoned.

I’m having lunch at twelve o’clock.
Come and have a sandwich with me,
No thanks. I don’t usually have lunch.

He’s having a day off.
Did you have a good holiday?

Contractions and weak forms are not possible with this meaning.Have got is not used with this meaning.

to express obligation using have to or have got to.

I’ve got to go now, I’m afraid.
Do you have to leave so soon?
Have you got to leave so soon?

When have is a main verb, it makes perfect forms like all other main verbs. This means that it is possible to use have twice in present or past perfect sentences, once as an auxiliary verb and once as a main verb.

We have had enough, thank you.
They had already had several warnings.