Have got and Have

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Form

I have got a cat / I have a cat.
I haven't got a cat / I don't have a cat.
Have you got a cat? / Do you have a cat?

-- "Have you a cat?" and "I haven't a cat" are possible but not common

'Have got' is more common and sounds more natural in informal language. It is a present tense of 'have', not the present perfect of 'get'.

Functions and examples

1. We use 'have got' and 'have' to talk about possession.

I've got a new house / I have a new house.
Has she got a car? / Does she have a car?

2. We use 'have got' and 'have' to talk about relationships.

Have you got a girlfriend? / Do you have a girlfriend?
He's got three brothers / He has three brothers.

3. We use have got and have to talk about illnesses.

I've got a bad cold / I have a bad cold.

4. We use have got and have to talk about characteristics.

Her office has got a nice view / Her office has a nice view.
Why has he got a tattoo? / Why does he have a tattoo?

Important points

1. With the functions above, have got and have cannot be used in continuous form.

I have got / have a headache.
I'm having a headache. x

2. In the past, 'have' is more common than 'have got'

She had a pink guitar when she was young.
She had got a pink guitar when she was young. x

Did you have a headache yesterday?
Had you got a headache yesterday? x

Teaching Have and have got

"have" is passive, "get" is active. I don't believe the two words are compatible. You either have it or you get it. I got it yesterday. I have it today. 'Have got' is a sloppy, incorrect use of a combination of the two words.
Kathy
Thanks Kathy. So the fact that "have got" is used naturally by nearly all native speakers (I wonder if you yourself have NEVER uttered the words, "I've got to pick up the kids from school") has no effect on your belief that it is "sloppy" and "incorrect"?"
Paul
I've got to do something is different from the 'have got' possession form, because the former goes with a verb and the latter goes with a noun.

I've got a headache. (a headache is a noun)
I've got to pick up the kids from school. (pick up is a verb) (verb phrase)

I've got a car or I have a car is just a difference between BE and AE. The Americans tend to use I have and the Brits I have got. In the British sense, the got part could be seen as the past of get, and means that you already have got something so you already own it, it is there with you now. It suggests that at sometime or other you actually went out and bought a car for example, or that you have lived with 'a brother' (I've got a brother) for sometime.

We use both forms all the time yet we just don't think about it... in fact, if you start thinking about it, you start to wonder whether it is correct, but it is! You can say I've got a new house or I have a new house, it's the same thing.

Finally, gotten is an American thing... although there are similarities in the idea with the British have got it is used in the present perfect in American English... he has gotten himself into trouble."
Martin
It's not really so much a case of BrE and AmE, I think. It's more to do with spoken and written language. We tend to write I have..., but say I've got... However, it is true that Americans say I have..., while British people say I've got... more often. You can still often hear Americans saying I've got... and Brits saying I have... though!"
Becky
I think Americans would say I have a car, I've got a car or even I got a car, but less likely to say I have got a car. They will use I have got to talk to you. Also, I don't think I've ever heard Americans say I've a car, but I've seen it in writing. It sounds like a UK usage to me."
Anonymous
Paul, regardless if every American (myself included) is saying something incorrectly, it's still incorrect... and sloppy. Anyone who actually paid attention in grammar class, knows that we Americans continually bastardize the English language. Why is this a bad thing? Take a trip to the US Virgin Islands and see what happens when a language is left to evolve on it's own for a couple centuries. You can hardly understand what the native people are saying."
Tai
Hi, I'm slightly worried about all the posts bashing the use of "have got"

I've got black hair, or
She's got a big nose.
These are both natural and perfectly correct, NOT sloppy and incorrect!

By the way - I've a car is definitely a big no-no and something we would want our students to avoid... I challenge the anonymous poster to find a credible example! Seems like some people need to re-consult their grammar reference books...
Just my two cents ;-)"
Jon
I always focus on the fact that the use of have and have got differs more in the form rather than in the function - it's a grammar issue. I point out for instance that have, like most other verbs needs an aux verb for the negative and interrogative forms and that have got doesn't. I also like to highlight the fact that have got whenever possible should use short forms (I've got / he's got) and have should always use the full forms (I have, he has, etc)."
Lucia
Hello to everyone. We, English teachers in Spain, are suposed to teach HAVE GOT rather than HAVE and it is shown in all grammar books we use in our schools. I agree with Jon (two posts above) and with the fact that we use full forms of HAVE and short forms of HAVE GOT.
John
"No way Jon, John and Lucia!" Right on Tai! We should feel remorse for the ESL students in Spain and in many other places. English grammar strictly states that "have got" is incorrect and rightly so: have (pres) and got (past tense) should never be used together or taught as a correct usage in English, regardless of its idiomatic usage.

The formula for constructing this type of sentence is present auxiliary plus past participle, not present aux. plus past tense. Jon and Lucia, do you teach your students to say "Today, I have saw a car or I have ate a pizza, today?" Well, if not, then please don't teach them to use have-present aux. with got-past tense verb. Even though I, myself, often use it for comic, emphatic or obvious, grammar-abandoning reasons, or, even, simple laziness, I would never use it in the classroom or use it when teaching, unless as an example.

We Americans once learned this throughout elementary, middle and junior high school. The declining of grammar usage is despicable and even pervades most of today's authors. Grammar is the verbal (linguistic) mechanism which helps to preserve the habit of forethought. Lucia, to respond to your quandary, "I've a car" is a possible, grammatically correct usage; however, it's pragmatically hard to imagine. It's foreseeable to be practical when many people need to sequentially state or affirm that they have something; however, communicating via writing, in itself, may preclude the above scenario and repeated use of I've an object."
Aaron
Aaron--I submit that there is a difference in meaning between "I have got something" and "I have gotten something". The first is a matter of present possession. The second is present perfect, indicating that something has been received in the past. (as with your examples of "I have seen a car" etc.) Hence the question of what exactly "have got" is, and how to teach it... You may simply be correct that this mysterious phrase is simply bad English, but I have my doubts. There are situations where it really does seem to be the more natural utterance. (Q: "Hey! Where's my stapler?" A: "Oh sorry. I've got it. Here."---"I have it" sure seems odd sounding in this case.)

And to Tai's point regarding the Virgin Islands and a 'language evolving on its own', that's a living language for you. Unless you're dealing with a dead language like Latin, it will continue to change, evolve, or devolve. Sorry. Language can't be permanently fixed in a grammar book.
Glen

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Have got and Have

Form

Functions and examples

Important points

Teaching Have and have got

How do you teach have got?