breakfast

[blouen]

Have you had your breakfast? -- Is this good English?

[Anglika]

Perfect!

[blouen]

Perfect!

I use this expression naturally but I just thought why we use "had" here. I learned that we use "had" when expressing two subsequent events and had is with the first thing that happened. Could you please explain?

[Barb_D]

"Had" is used to form the past perfect, as you describe above.
He had already left home without an umbrella when it started to rain.

But - "had" is also used as verb all on its own; it's not always a "helping verb."

As in "I have three cats," or "I am having breakfast."

So "I have had breakfast already" means "I have eaten." No past perfect.

[not a teacher]