Speaker 1: Do you have any pets. If so, are you having
fun with them? I have two dogs, and sometimes having
a pet can result in having a headache. My dog
Max is having a birthday in a few months, and
I was thinking of having a birthday party for him.
Did you notice all the ways I just used have.
Let's check it out.
Speaker 2: Welcome to another Happy English podcast coming to you from
New York City. And here's your English teacher, Michael.
Speaker 1: All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael
here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode seven ninety five.
Things you can have. When you think of an actor
who can play a variety of different kinds of roles,
you probably might think of people like Tom Hanks or
Johnny Depp. In the world of the English language group
of actors, and in a similar category as mister Hanks
or mister Depp, we have such versatile actors as get
Can and the star of tonight's show. Have. Have is
a wonderful verb that has a huge repertoire of meanings
and uses. Without further delay, I present to you our
special verb of the evening. Have. First of all, we
use have when we talk about possessing or owning something
like I have a dog, but my friend Greg has
a cat. Those are our pets and we use have
to show that we possess them. I have a Mac computer,
an iPad, and an iPhone. I guess that makes me
a fan of Apple. How about you, do you have
a Mac or a PC. In a similar way, you
can use have when you talk about health or other
physical problems, Like if you say that you have a headache,
you kind of possess it. It's not like you want
to have that headache, but regardless of your desires, you
have a headache. Brad has a cold, so he's not
coming to the office today. I also have a problem
with my shoulder. Maybe I should see a doctor. You
can also use half when you talk about relationships with
other people, like I have an older sister. As a
side note, you may be wondering why I said I
have an older sister and not I have an elder sister.
It's an American English thing. Elder sounds a bit old
fashioned these days. How about you, do you have a
big family. When I saw Eddie last week, he told
me he has a new girlfriend. Good for him. Let's
see where we're at so far. You can have a dog,
have a headache, and have a big family. In cases
like these, we use have to show things that belong
to us, but have is used in other ways as well,
like we also use have when we talk about someone
host an event, like we're having a birthday party for
Jack next Saturday. When you are the organizer of the event,
you can say that you are having that event. We're
having a company picnic next weekend, and I heard they're
having a job fair at the conference center all next week.
Next you can use have two followed by a base
verb to talk about obligations, you know, things that are
necessary to do, like Alice has to work on the weekends.
She doesn't really have a choice there, come to think
of it, I have to work on the weekends too.
And if you want to fly to another country, you
have to have a passport, although I think for my
friends over there in Europe, they just have to have transportation. Lucky,
aren't they. Next up, you can use have to talk
about your experience. One way to do that is by
using the present perfect tense, like I have been to
Central Park many times? Have you ever been there? And
you can also use have when you describe your experience,
like I had a great time at the party last night.
Jenny told me that she had a tough time preparing
for her presentation, but somehow she had a good experience
at the workshop. And when you do use have to
mean experience, then you can use have in the progressive form,
like I have been having a busy time preparing for moving.
Nick said he's having a lot of fun on his
vacation in Florida. How about you? Are you having a
good week? I hope so. And just remember one more
important grammar point. When have means ownership or possession, it
is not used in the progressive form. Like I have
a dog named Max, I can't say I am having
a dog, so I have a dog. I think I
had a lot of examples of how to use have
in this lesson. Keep in mind the best way to
remember vocabulary like this and any other word or phrase
in English is to take that word or phrase, write
it in a sentence that's true for you or true
in your world, and then memorize your sentences. And did
you know you can get more practice using your English
when you join my podcast Learner's study group. There you
can make new friends. Join us for live group lessons
every week where we practice these podcast lessons together. Plus
you get access to the PDF, transcript and audio download
for every Happy English podcast in the past and in
the future. And on top of that, each episode has
exercises where you can practice this English point with speaking
and writing checked by me. Hey. To learn more, just
visit Myhappy English dot com and choose podcast lesson seven
ninety five. Remember, learning another language is not easy, but
it's not impossible, and I'm here to help you on
your journey.
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Happy English Jeans.