Using "have" and "has" in a question

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Anonymous

#123526 Wed, 03 Aug 05 02:55 AM

I believe that in a statement, you would use "has" when referring to : he/she/it.

And, you would use "have" when referring to: you/I/they/we.

Eg. He has the ball. She has the ball. It has the ball in it's mouth.

You have the ball. I have the ball. They have the ball. We have the ball.

My question is who do you refer to when you use "has" and "have" when asking a question?

Eg. Do you have the ball? Do they have the ball? Does she have the ball?

Who has the ball?

Anonymous

Mister Micawber

#123626 Wed, 03 Aug 05 02:17 PM

When the operator do is used in a question, it is the verb that changes, not the main verb (have) or the pronoun referent:

Do you have the ball? (referring to you)
Does he have the ball? (referring to him)

Have is peculiar in that it does not always require the do-operator. Then it inflects as usual:

Have you the ball?
Has she the ball?

Mister Micawber

Joined on Wed, Aug 4 2004

Yokohama

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'The question is,' said Humpty Dumpty, 'which is to be master-- that's all.' . 'A fabis abstineto' - Anon

Verbs, Nouns, Pronouns

Philip

#123656 Wed, 03 Aug 05 04:42 PM

Mister Micawber wrote:

When the operator do is used in a question, it is the verb that changes, not the main verb (have) or the pronoun referent:

Do you have the ball? (referring to you)
Does he have the ball? (referring to him)

Have is peculiar in that it does not always require the do-operator. Then it inflects as usual:

Have you the ball?
Has she the ball? These are the standard in British English.

Philip

Joined on Thu, Jun 23 2005

USA Pacific Northwest (Seattle)

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If one will scoff at the study of language, how, save in terms of language, will one scoff? - Mario Pei

Verbs, Nouns, Pronouns, British English

Pemmican

#123940 Thu, 04 Aug 05 07:31 PM

Philip wrote:
Mister Micawber wrote:

Have you the ball?
Has she the ball? These are the standard in British English.

And the only remaining full verb (beside "to be") that resists the "do-paraphrasing".

American English gave up this structure and it's assumed that British English will follow some time.

Pemmican

Joined on Thu, Aug 21 2003

Westphalia, Germany

Full Member (569)

Wâ mag ich mich nu vinden? wâ mac ich mich nu suochen, wâ? nu bin ich hie und bin ouch dâ und enbin doch weder dâ noch hie. wer wart ouch sus verirret ie?wer wart ie sus...

American English, Verbs, British English

Anonymous

#353011 Thu, 19 Apr 07 05:58 PM

I understand the difference in use of HAD or HAVE, but not how to explain it. When is it singular and when is it plural?

Anonymous

Plurals

CalifJim

#353078 Thu, 19 Apr 07 08:58 PM

had is the past tense. It is used for all persons, both singular and plural.

have is the present tense. It is used for all persons, both singular and plural EXCEPT third person singular.
has is the present tense for third person singular.

          Who ...? He ... She ... It ... | I ...You ...We ...They ...

Present                       has                               have
Past                           had                               had

So has is only singular, but have and had may be found with some singular (I, you) and some plural (we, you, they) pronouns.

CJ