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What will be the tag question of it, then? "Didn't I" or "Don't I"?

Edwin Ashworth
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Shafe
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  • It's past tense. But sometimes it's said in the vernacular as present perfect tense to mean "I've got something to do." If past tense, tagging that question on it would be: "I got something to do, didn't I?" If present perfect tense, tagging that question on it would be: "I got something to do, don't I?" – Benjamin Harman Sep 11 '19 at 15:42
  • @BenjaminHarman: Or in British English, "I got something to do, ain't* I?"* (maybe *..., init?* in our latest version of BrE! :) – FumbleFingers Sep 11 '19 at 16:55
  • @FumbleFingers - Yes, but only if I were some chavvy yob, knob, or hob. – Benjamin Harman Sep 11 '19 at 17:10
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    This question should probably be on ELL and not here. That said, people don't seem to know English very well. Sorry, but in this case, my answer is correct. – Lambie Sep 11 '19 at 17:19
  • @user47014 There is a grammar of non-standard speech. That said, I don't think the OP knew what s/he was actually asking. People hear stuff on TV and in movies and repeat those things without really knowing what they are repeating. – Lambie Sep 11 '19 at 19:08

3 Answers3

3

"I got something to do, don't I?"

is non-standard English for:

  • I've got something to do, haven't I?
    OR
  • I have something to do, don't I?

Both those mean the exact same thing: the verb have has two simple present forms.

Bear in mind:

  • I got something at that store. Got there means buy.

  • I got your socks at that store, didn't I? got is simple past there.

the verb get can mean many other things as well.

The non-standard form: I got something to do, don't I? would be considered present. The tag is "don't I" and it is present simple tense.

The past tense of the expression: have/have got something to do is: had something to do and the tag is "did or didn't".

  • I had something to do, didn't I?

Bear in mind: non-standard here does not qualify the speaker. It merely is an identification tool in terms of sociolect. And it is not just AmE.

BBC ENGLISH

Note the way in which we form short answers and question tags with have got and have:

  • Have you got a sore throat as well as a runny nose?
  • No, I haven’t.
  • But you’ve got a high temperature, haven’t you?

  • Yes, I have.

  • Does this music school have enough pianos?

  • No, it doesn’t.
  • But you have enough opportunities to practise, don’t you?
  • No, we don’t.

BBC ENGLISH

The examples above apply to AmE also.

Lambie
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1

I have to do the report

The verb "have (got) to" expresses obligation, it is similar in meaning to must. The verb have to is not an auxiliary, it is a MAIN verb and as such can be used in all tenses: I will have (got) to [pure future], I have (got) to [present], I had (got) to [simple past] I have had to [present perfect], I had had to [past perfect] etc.

If the main clause is in the affirmative, the tag question will normally be in the negative, the correct auxiliary in this case is do

I have (got) to do the report, don't I?

In American slang, have can be replaced by got

I got to do the report, don't I?

Collins Dictionary says

People sometimes use have got to in order to emphasize that they are certain that something is true, because of the facts or circumstances involved. In informal American English, the 'have' is sometimes omitted.

  • See, you got to work very hard.
  • We'll do what we got to do.

The simple past equivalent of “have got to” with its corresponding question tag, would be

I had got to do the report, hadn't I?

From A Grammar of English Words (1938) By Harold E. Palmer [emphasis mine]

I had to do this [I had got to do this, It was compulsory that I should do this] (I had not yet done it).

Community
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Mari-Lou A
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    It is not American "slang or even informal in AmE. It is unschooled. If you omit the have, that immediately identifies your sociolect, basically. English has two forms of the verb have: Have you got any money? Yes, I have. Do you have any money? Yes, I do. The question as asked by the OP is not standard AmE at all. – Lambie Sep 11 '19 at 21:53
  • I have to do the report=I have got to do the report. – Lambie Sep 11 '19 at 22:04
  • I have got (I've got) to do the report, haven't I? – Lambie Sep 11 '19 at 22:12
  • I've got* to eat something* means the same thing to me as I have to eat something means, or I need to eat something, I must eat something. Those all talk about desired/required future eating that hasn't happened yet. But for me I've gotten* to eat something* means something completely different!! It talks about past eating that definitely did happen: I had the chance or permission to eat something *and did so.* Dialects that've forgotten gotten perforce also lack this handy oppositional distinction for got/gotten. :-) – tchrist Sep 13 '19 at 13:56
  • These two are ok: He got to work hard, didn't he? He's got to work hard, hasn't he? It's only unschooled to use got to mean has got. It's perfectly fine to use got to mean did get, and indeed no other past tense is available for this. Collins Dictionary could be a whole lot clearer about this. Therefore the ungrammatical/unschooled/nonstandard/"incorrect" one is He got to work, hasn't/doesn't he?* because that one omitted the auxiliary. – tchrist Sep 13 '19 at 14:30
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Take out the contractions to see which is correct.

I got something to do, did I not?

or

I got something to do, do I not?

The correct one is the latter.

JRodge01
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