I have vs. I have got vs. I got vs. I gotta | English grammar lesson – with VIDEO!
Hi everyone! Todays blog post is an English grammar lesson focusing on: I have vs I have got vs I got vs I gotta. I know that is a bit of a mouthful! But we will break this down together so you will have a full understanding by the end of this blog. I’ve also embedded my video lesson for you below if you prefer to watch that. Let’s get started!
In this lesson, we are going to compare these four sentence:
- I have a sister.
- I have got a sister.
- I got a sister.
- I gotta sister.
AND these four sentences:
- I have to leave.
- I have got to leave.
- I got to leave.
- I gotta leave.
There is a big difference between have/have got/got/gotta + NOUN and have to/have got to/got to/gotta + VERB. They are not the same!
Before we compare + NOUN and + VERB, let’s look at the differences between the words we are comparing today:
HAVE / HAVE TO = the standard, preferred verb
HAVE GOT / HAVE GOT TO = usually used in spoken English and mainly by speakers of British English
(Do not confuse today’s lesson with the present perfect tense. See image at the bottom of this post ⇓)
GOT / GOT TO = incorrect grammar, but commonly used in spoken English
(Do not confuse today’s lesson with the past simple of GET. See image at the bottom of this post ⇓)
GOTTA = the informal contracted form of GOT A and GOT TO
(This is also incorrect grammar, but very common in speaking and social media.)
*If your subject is He/She/It, use the verb HAS, not HAVE.
+ NOUN
have/have got/got/gotta + noun refer to the PRESENT and refer to something we possess (have)
an object
I have a fancy coffee maker in my kitchen.
I have got (I’ve got) a fancy coffee maker in my kitchen. (Again, this is not the present perfect.)
I got a fancy coffee maker in my kitchen. (This is not the past simple of GET.)
I gotta fancy coffee maker in my kitchen.
a person: friend / family member / partner
- She has three kids.
- She has got (She’s got) three kids.
- She got three kids.
Here, GOTTA is not an option because GOTTA means “got a”. We do not need “a” before “three kids”.
a characteristic
- They all have dark brown hair.
- They have all got (They’ve all got) dark brown hair.
- They all got dark brown hair.
GOTTA is not an option.
an illness / health issue
- I have a pounding headache.
- I have got (I’ve got) a pounding headache.
- I got a pounding headache.
- I gotta pounding headache.
All of the above examples refer to PRESENT POSSESSION.
The same rules apply in QUESTIONS and NEGATIVES:
positive: I have a good boss.
negative: I don’t have a good boss.
questions: Do you have a good boss?
positive: I have got (I’ve got) a good boss.
negative: I haven’t got a good boss.
question: Have you got a good boss?
positive: I got a good boss.
negative: I don’t got a good boss. (Please remember this is incorrect, but you will come across this form.)
question: Do you got a good boss?
What about the past? What about the future?
If you want to speak about past or future possession, you can only change HAVE.
present: I have a swimming pool in my yard. I had got
past: I had a swimming pool in my yard. I had got
future: I will have a swimming pool in my yard. I will had got
+ VERB
have to/have got to/got to/gotta + verb mean MUST or NEED TO
- I have to speak to you later. (I must speak to you later. / I need to speak to you later.)
- I have got to (I’ve got to) speak to you later.
- I got to speak to you later.
- I gotta speak to you later. (Here, GOTTA is short for GOT TO.)
- We have to leave in 20 minutes. (We must leave in 20 minutes. / We need to leave in 20 minutes.)
- We have got to (We’ve got to) leave in 20 minutes.
- We got to leave in 20 minutes.
- We gotta leave in 20 minutes.
If you love learning English grammar, check out my other lessons here!
The same rules apply in QUESTIONS and NEGATIVES:
positive: They have to speak to me before they make their decision.
negative: They don’t have to speak to me before they make their decision.
question: Do they have to speak to me before they make their decision?
positive: They have got to (They’ve got to) speak to me before they make their decision.
negative: They haven’t got to speak to me before they make their decision.
question: Have they got to speak to me before they make their decision?
positive: They got to (or gotta) speak to me before they make their decision.
negative: They don’t got to speak to me before they make their decision.
question: Do they got to speak to me before they make their decision?
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