"I have" why not "I has"

   Share on Facebook  
Anonymous  #313493  Wed, 10 Jan 07 04:14 PM

Hello friends

I wish to know "Why 'have' is used after I instead of 'has'.

Because otherwise we use "have" after plurals (they, we, etc.) and "has" after singulars (he, she, it). Why then we use "have" after I (singular).

Is it an exception or there is some specific rule regarding this?

e.g. We say "I have got a pen". Why not "I has got a pen".

Thanks

David

  
This is a live chat room, hosted on the chat page. You can also click here to see the chat in fullscreen.
pieanne  #313507  Wed, 10 Jan 07 04:35 PM
When you conjugate "have" in the present tense, it's "I have", not "I has". "Has" goes with "she, he, it"
  
Top 25 Contributor
Joined on Thu, Jan 20 2005
South of France ...But I'm Belgian!
Veteran Member (7,512)
ModeratorProficient Speaker
I'm glad to help, but I'm not a native! And please excuse my typos...
nona the brit  #313510  Wed, 10 Jan 07 04:43 PM

A lot of verbs follow this pattern.

I/we/they run

He/she/it runs

  
Top 10 Contributor
Joined on Wed, Sep 22 2004
England
Veteran Member (11,353)
ModeratorProficient Speaker
The name says it all.
pieanne  #313528  Wed, 10 Jan 07 05:14 PM

In the present tense, the -s belongs to the 3rd person (sing)

  
Philip  #313586  Wed, 10 Jan 07 07:53 PM
As you can tell from the previous answers, it is the 3rd-person-singular form in the present tense that is "out of step", not the 1st-person-singular.  For regular verbs, all forms are the same except for the 3rd-person-singular, which adds an 's'.
  
Top 25 Contributor
Joined on Thu, Jun 23 2005
USA Pacific Northwest (Seattle)
Veteran Member (6,181)
ModeratorProficient Speaker
At reise er at leve! - H. C. Andersen
Marvin A.  #313668  Wed, 10 Jan 07 11:41 PM
EDIT: the quoting feature doesn't seem to be working right now. I used "----" to represent quotes.
--------------------------------------
I wish to know "Why 'have' is used after I instead of 'has'.
------------------------------------------
The verb to "have" comes from the Old English verb "habban".

I have was "Ic haebbe"
Thou hast was "Thu haefst"
He has was "He haefth"

Later on, the standard form from the 3rd person singular became "hath". After that, the Northern dialect form won out, which used -s as the ending, rather than -th. So, the standard form became "has".

"Thou" dropped out of common use, and was completely replaced with the plural (acc) "you".
Therefore its ending died with it (thu haefst -> thou hast -> 0)

So, in the singular, we are left with "I have" and "He has".

So, as you can see, "has" simply comes from the Northern dialect form for "hath". "I have" was originally "haebbe", but became regularized to "have".

------------------------------------------
Because otherwise we use "have" after plurals (they, we, etc.) and "has" after singulars (he, she, it). Why then we use "have" after I (singular).
--------------

It has nothing really to do with singular and plurals. The rule is not "it's have for plurals, and has for singulars." The plural forms were all regularized to "have", as was the first person singular. Originally they had different forms. The third person singular was not regularized, and the second person singular dropped out of common use in most modern dialects of English--it would be "thou hast".

------------------------------------------
e.g. We say "I have got a pen". Why not "I has got a pen".
------------------------------------------

In certain dialects of English, such as British English, "I have got" is considered correct. In my dialect, as well as in several other North American English dialects, "I have got" is considered incorrect, although the contracted form "I've got" is occasionally used in informal speech by people. We use simply "I have". We do use "I've gotten" though, but it does not mean "I have", but rather "I've received."
  
Top 150 Contributor
Joined on Fri, Dec 8 2006
Regular Member (638)
AddThis Feed Button RSS Feed: ESL Basic English Grammar Questions and Help
© 2008 MediaCET Ltd.
Terms and Conditions & Terms of Service