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The idioms has got and have got seem to be present
perfect tense: they use has and have and these forms
are followed by a past participle (one of the two past
participles of get--got and gotten). These two related
idioms are not present perfect, however. Instead, they're
actually simple present tense and are conversational
equivalents of has and have:
He's got red hair. = He has red hair.
Have you got a dollar? = Do you have a dollar?
They've got two children. = They have two children.
You've got mail! = You have mail!
I haven't got time. = I don't have time.
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Has got and have got are also used to make a variation
of has to / have to: has got to and have got to. These
variations are almost always contracted:
He's got to leave early. = He has to leave early.
We've got to go. = We have to go.
They've got to hurry. = They have to hurry.
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Got to is usually pronounced something like "gotta,"
but this is a spoken form and is not acceptable in
most writing:
| Written Form |
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Spoken Form |
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He's got to leave early.
We've got to go.
They've got to hurry.
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*He's gotta leave early.
*We've gotta go.
*They've gotta hurry.
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Also, 've (the contraction of have) in I / you / we / they
have got to is often omitted--so it sounds something
like this:
| Written Form |
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Spoken Form |
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I've got to hurry!
You've got to help me!
We've got to try harder!
They've got to tell us!
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*I gotta hurry.
*You gotta help me!.
*We gotta try harder
*They gotta tell us!
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Special Notes
| 1. |
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The verb get has two past participles--got and
gotten. In American English, got is used to make
the expressions has / have got and has / have
got to; gotten is used to make present perfect:
He's got a new car. ( = present )
He's gotten a new car. ( = present perfect)
I've got a headache right now.
( = present )
I've gotten a headache four times this week.
( = present perfect)
They've got permission to leave early.
( = present )
They've gotten permission to leave early.
( = present perfect )
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| 2. |
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Because has / have got and has / have got to
are not present perfect, they cannot be used with
present perfect time expressions:
not this:
He's got a new car every two years.
but this:
He's gotten a new car every two years.
not this:
She's got the flu since last Thursday.
but this:
She's had the flu since last Thursday.
not this:
We've got to work late three times last week.
but this:
We had to work late three times last week.
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| 3. |
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The expressions has / have got and has / have
got to are informal. They shouldn't be used in
formal writing and they should also be avoided
in formal speaking. For formal situations, use
has / have and must. |
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| 4. |
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In casual speech, 've is often omitted in
've got to ("gotta"), but 's is not omitted in
's got to ("'s gotta"):
commonly heard:
I / you / we / they gotta leave right away.
strange:
??? He / she gotta leave right away.
Remember that "gotta" is a spoken form
and is used in only the most casual writing
(for example, comics and informal letters
to close friends).
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| 5. |
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The expressions has / have got to (has / have to)
and get to (be allowed to / be permitted to) are
not the same:
I've got to go. = I have to / must go.
I got to go. = I was permitted to go.
She's got to stay up late. = She has to / must
stay up late.
She gets to stay up late. = She's allowed to /
permitted to stay up late.
The expression get to is not contracted to *gotta.
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