"We've" vs "We have"

Question

Possible Duplicates:
Is it appropriate to use short form of “have” ('ve) when it means possession?
Can you contract the main verb in a sentence?

Is we've equivalent to we have?

In some cases, they do seem to be correct, but sometimes they don't. Consider these 4 sentences.

We've got a problem here.
We have got a problem here.

We've a problem here.
We have a problem here.

Which of these are correct, and which are wrong?

Possible duplicate of Is it appropriate to use short form of “have” ('ve) when it means possession? and Can you contract the main verb in a sentence? — RegDwigнt, Mar 11 '11 at 19:29
@RegDwight Thanks! I did some search on the site before posting, but I didn't know what terms to search for exactly. — Dogbert, Mar 11 '11 at 19:32
The search doesn't really work for words such as "have". Entirely not your fault. What I can recommend instead is having a look at the "faq" tab under "Questions", or googling using the "site:" operator. — RegDwigнt, Mar 11 '11 at 19:35

score 7 · Answer 1 · answered Mar 11 '11 at 19:28

7

We've is simply a contraction of we have. All your examples are correct grammatically, it's just that some sound better than others.

answered Mar 11 '11 at 19:28

The English Chicken

8,480

score 7 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 11 '11 at 19:33

7

British English finds it generally acceptable to contract away the main verb of the sentence, for "We've a problem here." American English does not like to do that, even though it is grammatically valid.

answered Mar 11 '11 at 19:33

Hellion

59,365

"We've" vs "We have"

2 Answers2