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I have got a car.

Would it be correct to answer:

So have I.

or:

So do I.

Likewise:

I have got three sisters.

Reply: So do I. or So have I.

Both responses sound possible to me, but I can't figure out if one would be grammatically incorrect. To me, have got seems like a present perfect construction but I am uncertain. Also, have got seems to be functioning as showing possession of an object.

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Claire
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3 Answers3

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In the British English of my youth, fifty years ago, have (and have got) did not take 'do'-support", so we didn't say "Do you have ... ?" (except in a habitual sense), or "I don't have". We would have said "So have I." in this context.

American English then, and increasingly British English in the years since, do use 'do'-support with "have", and therefore many people now would say "So do I". My impression is that for most Americans using have without 'do'-support sounds very old-fashioned and literary; but it is the form I would normally use.

As for your final question: historically, yes I have got a car is a present perfect, and it can still be used in that way (Americans would say I have gotten a car in that sense). But the common use no longer has that sense, and it is best to think of have got as a compound verb meaning possess or own.

Colin Fine
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  • I appreciate your very full answer. My doubt was related to how, when using tag questions and neither/either/so, the verb 'have' as a main verb is answered using do and have as an auxiliary verb is answered using have. Have got seems to be a perfect structure but as it seems to show possession, the correct answer isn't easy to guess. I gather from your response that it can depend on your speaking preference. – Claire Jul 31 '18 at 17:20
  • you may not have had people saying "Do you have" or "I don't have". But you're saying the auxiliary there would have been have? I'd say this: 50 years ago, one would hear Brits say, typically: *Have you any tea in the kitchen?* And the response would have been: Yes, I have. That's why they used to say have/haven't. It's because having things was often expressed as Have you [whatever]. One hears *that much less today*. – Lambie Jul 31 '18 at 18:33
  • No, @Lambie, I'm saying that in older BrE (which I often still use) there isn't an auxiliary! Have functions like be in that it forms negatives and questions with simple inversion and no auxiliary. In the tag question (again like be) it doesn't need an auxiliary but stands for itself. Otherwise you seem to be restating my answer, including the fact that treating have as a regular verb has become more common. – Colin Fine Jul 31 '18 at 21:31
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    @ColinFine Yes, of course no auxiliary. That was badly said. Nevertheless, I gave an example because non-English speakers do better with examples than explanations. That's all. – Lambie Jul 31 '18 at 22:08
  • I'm not a non-native English speaker, but thank you both for your opinions and arguments. – Claire Jul 31 '18 at 22:27
  • @Claire It seems the main point regarding the difference between the two main forms of have (have and have got in the present tense) was not taken into account by you. The main point is not about "do-support". It's about how a question is asked: Do you have or Have you got? Have you x? Comes after that point; it does not precede it. Have you a car, and Have you got a car? would both "take": So have I. – Lambie Aug 02 '18 at 14:27
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to have or have got in the sense of own or have relevance to a person (have sisters, for example):

There are two different forms: have and have got = same thing.

  • Have you got a car? The auxiliary is have. So have I.
  • Do you have a car? The auxiliary is do. So do I.

So: "So have I." for have got and "So do I." for have.

The answer depends on the question you were asked and how it was asked: was it asked with have or have got (which mean the same thing, I cannot stress enough). The only difference is that have got is usually a spoken form.

When one teaches English, one deals with this all the time.

Please note: Usually, one tends to answer a question as it was posed.

So, if the person asks you: Do you have an X? The most likely auxiliary will be "do". Whereas if a person ask you: Have you got an X, the most likely answer is with "have".

Please note: also, it used to be common to hear: Have you money? And the auxiliary there is have: Yes, I have. This usage is quite rare in AmE. But I hear it quite a bit on British drama series, etc.

Lambie
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'I have got a car' should read' I have a car.' The word got is unnecessary.

I associate the word 'got' with being a recipient of an unpleasant situation.

Examples:'I got the Chicken Pox from my four year old neighbor,' or 'She got a C on her final.'

I disagree with the use of the word got in general.

Got that? (joke)

Trish Southerland
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