HAVE, HAS, HAD, HAVE HAD, HAS HAD, HAD HAD? – English Grammar (with video!)

Oh my goodness! What is the difference between all of these ‘have’ forms?

Don’t worry, let’s look at these step-by-step:

If you are a more visual learner, watch the video!

step 1: HAVE / HAS / HAD

present simple forms:

I have
You have
He/She/It has
We have
They have

We use the present simple to speak about things that never change, or repeated actions.

I have two sisters.
This will never change.

My country has awful winters. They are always extremely cold. 
This will never change. It’s the climate.

I always have toast and eggs for breakfast.
This is a repeated action.

I always have chewing gum in my purse.
This is a repeated action.

past simple forms:

I had
You had
He/She/It had
We had
They had

We use the past simple for a completed past action.

I had toast and eggs for breakfast this morning.
This is a completed past action.

Everyone had a wonderful time at the party.
This is a completed past action.

George and Estelle had an argument.
This is a completed past action.

Last month, my best friend had a baby girl!
This is a completed past action.

step 2: have had / has had

First, it’s important you understand what a past participle is.

We form the present perfect using have/has + past participle.

I have had a wonderful day.

He has had two major operations in the past year.

We have had over two hundred applicants for this job.

Has your child had all of her vaccines yet?

I want to learn more about the PRESENT PERFECT

SO what is had had? Double ‘had’ hm?

step 3: had had

We form the past perfect using had + past participle.

had walked / had flown / had done / had had

 We use the past perfect to speak about a past action which happened before another past action.

I didn’t want to eat lunch because I had had a large breakfast.
1^st action: large breakfast  2^nd action: no lunch

We wanted to go back to Barcelona because we had had such a wonderful experience.
1^st action: a wonderful experience  2^nd action: wanted to go back

James did better on the exam than me because he had had more time to study.
1^st action: James had more time to study 2^nd action: James did better than me

Ria couldn’t go on the skiing trip as she had had an accident while driving.
1^st action: driving accident 2^nd action: no skiing trip

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Your teacher,

Arnel