Is the quality of our life defined by who we are, that is, what we know, what we have done, or what we have experienced? Or is it rather our material status, how much money we have in the bank, or what we have parked under the biggest house we can afford?
Those are very good questions, but that is not what this grammar lesson is about!
To be or to have got in the present simple
From this post you will learn:
- How to conjugate to be in the English present simple.
- How to conjugate to have (got), that is, “to have”, in the present simple.
- English have got & to be in continuous tenses
- English have got & to be in the past
- English have got & to be in the future
- English have got & to be in perfect tenses
- How to practise the conjugation of to be & to have got best
But let’s start with a short review.
What does a simple sentence in the present simple look like?
For example like this:
- I like you.
- We like cars.
but
- He likes her.
- She likes dancing.
This means that in the present simple we use the verb in its base form (like), except in the third person singular (he, she, it), when we add the ending -s to the verb (she likes).
Also see: When do we use have, when has, and what is the present simple -s?
But what if we want to say in the present simple:
- She is happy?
To be in English is to be.
So we might expect to say
She bes happy.
Unfortunately, it is not that easy!
The verb to be — just like to have (about which in a moment) — follows its own rules! And that is what this post is about!
1. To be in the present simple
The verb to be changes with the subject. In the present simple, use I am, you are and he/she/it is. For more than one person, use we are and they are.
These forms look different from to be. Learn them in short phrases, such as I am ready and she is happy.
You cannot just add -s.
What does it look like in practice?
Conjugation of the verb to be in the present simple
Affirmative sentences, questions and negatives with to be in the present simple look like this:
- (I am) I am happy. → Am I happy? → I am not happy.
- (you are) You are happy. → Are you happy? → You are not happy.
- (she is) She is happy. → Is she happy? → She is not happy.
- (he is) He is happy. → Is he happy? → He is not happy.
- (it is) It is happy. → Is it happy? → It is not happy.
- (we are) We are happy. → Are we happy? → We are not happy.
- (you are) You are happy. → Are you happy? → You are not happy.
- (they are) They are happy. → Are they happy? → They are not happy.
What should we pay attention to here?
- Our I is so special that it has its own form: I am
- She, he and it look the same: she, he, it is
- In the plural we use are
- Because in English “you” is the same word for both singular and plural, the form is the same: you. In both cases it is you are.
- In questions we simply change the word order (so-called inversion): You are… – Are you…?
- In all persons, negatives are made by adding not.
Short forms of negatives with to be
In everyday speech, instead of the formal full form with not, you will hear:
- she is not = she isn’t
- you are not = you aren’t
And for “I” it looks a little different:
- I am not = I’m not
How do we ask incorrectly?
To form a yes/no question with to be, put am, is or are before the subject. This word order is called inversion:
- He is sad.
- Is he sad?
But do not be surprised if, in practice, you hear in a film or see in a meme simply:
He sad?
People also very often just change the intonation of their voice and tadaam! A statement becomes a question!
You are happy?
Or, like the Joker in Batman, someone may ask:
Why so serious?
(“Why are you so serious, Batman?” Although it should be: Why are you so serious?)
2. Conjugation of the verb to have (English have got) in the present simple
If, however, we prefer material possession over philosophical being, the matter becomes more complicated.
In theory, when forming questions we also use inversion, but it does not always produce something sensible…
Anyway, see for yourself below.
Can we use “have” without got?
If we follow the general pattern, we get something like this:
- (I have a car → Do I have a car? → I do not have a car.) I have a car. →
Have I a car? → I have not a car. - (you have) You have a car. →
Have you a car? → You have not a car. - (we have) We have a car. →
Have we a car? → We have not a car. - (you have) You have a car. →
Have you a car? → You have not a car. - (they have) They have a car. →
Have they a car? → They have not a car.
He, she, it use has instead of have, but nothing else changes:
-
- (she has) She has a car. →
Has she a car? → She has not a car.
- (she has) She has a car. →
(on has) He has a car. → Has he a car? → He has not a car.
- (it has) It has a car. →
Has it a car? → It has not a car.
Although the questions and negatives above (the second and third columns) are completely correct, and they are taught for example by the old Callan Method textbook Callan method (whose author forbade any changes to his method in his will, and language is constantly evolving), nobody says it like that nowadays, except as a joke or in very formal writing.
That is why I crossed out those archaic forms. So how do we really say it?
Have or have got?
In affirmative sentences with the English verb “to have” (to have), we have two options: with or without the meaningless got.
“Have” and “have got” mean exactly the same thing.
For example:
- I have a book.
- I have got a book.
However, it sounds much better if we use got in negatives and questions.
If we add got to have, we get:
- (I have) I have (got) a car. → Have I got a car? → I have not got a car.
- (you have) You have (got) a car. → Have you got a car? → You have not got a car.
- (we have) We have (got) a car. → Have we got a car? → We have not got a car.
- (you have) You have (got) a car. → Have you got a car? → You have not got a car.
- (they have) They have (got) a car. → Have they got a car? → They have not got a car.
He, she, it use has instead of have, but again nothing else changes here:
- (she has) She has (got) a car. → Has she got a car? → She has not got a car.
- (he has) He has (got) a car. → Has he got a car? → He has not got a car.
- (it has) It has (got) a car. → Has it got a car? → It has not got a car.
In everyday speech we usually use the shortened form have got = ‘ve got:
The full negative form sounds so formal that it almost hurts the ears!
So we usually say:
- I’ve got a car. I haven’t got a car.
- She’s got a car. She hasn’t got a car.
- We’ve got a car. They haven’t got a car. etc.
Instead of the formal:
- I have not got a car.
Only in questions do we not shorten anything:
- Has he got a car?
Unless we are asking a so-called negative question:
- Hasn’t he got a car?
But that is a completely different story.
Negatives in the present simple can also take the following form:
Got can also slip into negatives with no, again changing nothing in the meaning of the sentence. That is why I put got in brackets — you can use it, but you do not have to. Why use it? So that the sentence sounds better, for example if we need an extra syllable in our song or poem…
- I have (got) no car.
- You have (got) no car.
- He has (got) no car.
- She has (got) no car.
- It has (got) no car.
And in the plural:
- We have (got) no car.
- You have (got) no car.
- They have (got) no car.
Notice that in these sentences no means more like “none” than “not”. And why that is, and why we do not use not there, you will learn from the post:
Do you have or have you got?
In questions and negatives in the present simple, we can also ask our old good auxiliary verb do for help, which we use anyway in all other cases except be and have (for example Do you know her? I don’t like it etc.).
It will then be:
- I have a car. Do I have a car? ↔ I don’t have a car.
- You have a car. Do you have a car? ↔ You don’t have a car.
- She has a car. Does she have a car? ↔ She doesn’t have a car.
- He has a car. Does he have a car? ↔ He doesn’t have a car.
- It has a car. Does it have a car? ↔ It doesn’t have a car.
And in the plural:
- We have a car. Do we have a car? ↔ We don’t have a car.
- You have a car. Do you have a car? ↔ You don’t have a car.
- They have a car. Do they have a car? ↔ They don’t have a car.
In general, there is no difference between:
- Do you have a car? = Have you got a car?
- Does she have a car? = Has she got a car?
or
- He doesn’t have a car. = He hasn’t got a car.
- I don’t have a car. = I haven’t got a car.
and so on.
Do for emphasis
Do can also be used in affirmative sentences, where it is normally silent. It also stresses the importance of what we are saying (so-called emphasis):
- I do have a car = I really have a car.
3. English have got & to be in continuous tenses
And how will English have got and English to be behave in continuous tenses, where we put the emphasis on action and activity, and add the ending -ing to the verb?
English have got in the present continuous
In the present continuous, the verb to have appears, for example, in the context of eating.
For example:
- I’m having a hamburger.
This sentence means “I am eating a hamburger right now.” We do not use got here.
Outside the context of eating, we use this structure in sentences like:
- I’m having a break.
- I’m having a difficult time.
English to be in the present continuous
This is a very elegant and rather rare structure.
For example:
- I’m being told off.
- She’s being really annoying.
Although it is theoretically possible, English to be very rarely appears in the continuous form. Hardly anyone would say:
- I’m being malicious.
Instead, we would simply say in the present simple
- I’m malicious.
And what will the conjugation of to have & to be look like in other grammar tenses?
4. English have got and to be in the past
The conjugation of English to be in the past simple:
- (I was sad. I was not sad. Was I sad?) I was sad. → I wasn’t sad. → Was I sad?
- (you were) You were sad. → You weren’t sad. → Were you sad?
- (she was) She was sad. → She wasn’t sad. → Was she sad?
- (he was) He was sad. → He wasn’t sad. → Was he sad?
- (it was) It was sad. → It wasn’t sad. → Was it sad?
And in the plural:
- (we were) We were sad. → We weren’t sad. → Were we sad?
- (you were) You were sad. → You weren’t sad. → Were you sad?
- (they were) They were sad. → They weren’t sad. → Were they sad?
So I, she, he, it was, and the rest is were.
In the past continuous, to be looks like this, for example:
- She was being dishonest.
- We were being very enthusiastic.
This is also not the kind of grammar structure you hear often in the street.
English have & have got in the simple past
The past form of the irregular verb to have is had. The same for all persons.
- I had a car. She had a car. We all had a car!
(I had a car. She had a car. We all had a car!)
Or:
- We didn’t have a car. He didn’t have a car. Nobody had a car!
(We didn’t have a car. He didn’t have a car. Nobody had a car!)
Or:
- Did you have a car? Did she have a car? Who had a car?
And what about have got in the past simple (that is, had got)?
In theory, you can use it. You simply change have got to had got in all persons.
For example:
- I have got no money. → I had got no money.
…but this is not something we would really hear on the street or even in writing; it sounds rather odd, so I do not recommend it.
Some linguists even think this form is wrong and that it can only be used in the sense of receiving something (as the third form of get in past perfect: get-got-got), for example I had got a car (I had received a car), while they consider I had got a car (meaning I had a car) to be an error. I would not worry too much about that.
So I simply advise against using got in the simple past.
To have in the past continuous
In the past continuous we can say, for example:
- I was having a breakfast.
- She was having lots of fun.
- We were having an interesting conversation.
Here, too, we do not use got.
5. English have got and English to be in the future
English to be in the future simple
This is probably the simplest possible option: just will + be in every person:
- (I will be happy. I will not be happy. Will I be happy?) I will be happy. → I won’t be happy. → Will I be happy?
- (you will be) You will be happy. → You won’t be happy. → Will you be happy?
- (she/he/it will be) She/he/it will be happy. → She/he/it won’t be happy. → Will she/he/it be happy?
- (we/you/they will be) We/you/they will be happy. → We/you/they won’t be happy. → Will we/you/they be happy?
English have got in the future
English have got in the future looks similar to English have got in the past — in theory it is possible… but we would rather not use got, just plain have…
Again, unless we mean not that we possess something, but that we have received something: I will have got a present (that is, get in the future perfect, not in ordinary future simple). In American and Canadian English, however, we would more likely say I have gotten a car.
6. English have got and English to be in perfect tenses
English to be in perfect tenses
To finish, let’s make things even more complicated! In the ordinary perfect (present perfect simple) we simply use the third form (be → was/were → been) as with any other word, that is I have been happy. There is no mystery here.
In the present perfect continuous, however, since the structure already contains to be as an auxiliary verb (have been), the structure I have been being happy sounds too absurd to use.
English have got in the present perfect
Here we will definitely use just had without got, for example I have had a cake (correct), and certainly not I have had got a cake (wrong).
A structure with got in the present perfect continuous is almost impossible to imagine because it sounds so unnatural (I have been having got a lunch for two hours — awful!). In the past perfect, too, we would say I had had a meeting (correct), not I had had got a meeting (wrong).
7. How to practise the conjugation of to be & to have got best?
Are you already tired of all this grammar?
I do not blame you at all!
Especially since, if you want to use have got & to be correctly, you need to learn how to use them in practice!
That is why the best thing is to sign up for a spoken English course — then, like a child, you will absorb all this grammar subconsciously and speak English freely and correctly without even thinking about it!
That is how you build the habit of speaking correctly. Instead of thinking about the right form, you will simply say what you want to say!
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Phew, now you probably know the whole English have got and to be system? So the only question left is: “to be or to have?” 🙂
If anything is still unclear, ask freely in the comments!
