Has for possesion

[Abdullah Matrafi]

Hello everyone,

I just wonder if you could tell me which of the following sentence is correct and why!

I have got a new girlfriend.

I have a new girlfriend.

Thanks in advance

[5jj]

They are both correct. When I was at school in the 1950s, 'have got' was regarded as very informal; we were taught to use only 'have'. 'Have got' is still perhaps better avoided in formal writing but, in BrE at least, it is far more commonly used in speech and informal writing than 'have'.

I am speaking only 'have' with the meaning of 'possession' (in a very loose sense of the word). When 'have' has a more dynamic meaning (similar to 'take', 'experience', 'eat', etc), then 'have got' is not possible:

I have (got) a shower in my hotel room. It's very modern.
I have got a shower every morning before breakfast.

[emsr2d2]

I would like to add that "to have got" is being taught in Spanish schools as a verb in its own right, instead of "to have" meaning possession (or at least it was 18 months ago when I taught a 6-year-old.) It took a lot of getting used to on my part. I had been asked to help the child revise what he had been learning at school and when I saw "to have got" in his school folder, I was somewhat taken aback. I regularly found myself having to correct myself, having said "I have a cat" and the child looking at me in confusion, I would say "Sorry. I have got a cat" and he understood perfectly.

The only reason ever given was that it made the interrogative easier to construct:

I have got = Have I got?
I have = Do I have?

[5jj]

I would like to add that "to have got" is being taught in Spanish schools as a verb in its own right, instead of "to have" meaning possession

'have got' appears in many course books fairly early on these days. I dislike the apparent insistence on this form as much as I disliked the former rejection of it.

'To have got' is just wrong. Whether we use 'have' or 'have got', the bare infinitive is 'have'.

I have a new computer.......I have got a new computer
I must have got a new computer.......I want to have got a new computer.

'Must have got' is of course possible, with a different meaning in: John has thrown out his old computer; he must have got a new one. = it is logically certain that he has acquired a new one

[hooshdar3]

Altough not a teacher, I guess there is no difference here:
Have got is just a newer form of have, coming into existance from around 1825, according to Amecian Heritage dictionary®