strange question tag

[muribad]

Hello,

I'm new here. In fact it's my first post.

And, as I had this question in my head for some time, I thought why not ask here :

I heard this sentence in a movie (an episode of Columbo)
"you have a bee in your bonnet about that suicide, don't you"

and I was wondering why the character uses this tag and not "haven't you".

Is it correct ? Or it is just acceptable in oral speech ?

[Teia]

Hello,

I'm new here. In fact it's my first post.

And, as I had this question in my head for some time, I thought why not ask here :

I heard this sentence in a movie (an episode of Columbo)
"you have a bee in your bonnet about that suicide, don't you"

and I was wondering why the character uses this tag and not "haven't you".

Is it correct ? Or it is just acceptable in oral speech ?

The question tag is correct because the verb have behaves as any other normal verb, i.e. this verb conjugates with the help of auxiliary do:
e.g. You have a bee..., don`t you?
She has a bee..., doesn`t she?

If you had the construction have got, then the question tag would be different :
She has got a nice house, hasn`t she? , and the same thing happens when you have perfect constructions : present perfect, past perfect, etc.
You have had some awful days, haven`t you?

[muribad]

Thank you very much.
I will have to keep your explanation in mind for the next time I stumble on this sort of thing.

On second though, why does it behave like a normal verb ? Is it because of the idiom ?

[belly_ttt]

Thank you very much.
I will have to keep your explanation ( explanation , not explaination) in mind for the next time I stumble on this sort of thing.

On second though, why does it behave like a normal verb ? Is it because of the idiom ?

Dear muribad, although I'm not a teacher, I want to answer and see if I can help
It's not because of the idiom, just because itself is a normal verb

[Casiopea]

Welcome, muribad.

Have behaves like a normal verb in (North American English) because it's the main verb, not because it's a part of the idiom bee in your bonnet.

Main verb
Ex: They eat fish, don't they?
Ex: They run after work, don't they?
Ex: You have a car, don't you?
Ex: You have seen it, haven't you?
Ex: You've got a car, haven't you?

Does that help?

[muribad]

It certainly helps but I still have one question.

Four of your examples are very clear to me : (correct me if I'm wrong...)

Ex1 and 2 : with a normal verb like 'eat' the question tag will be with "don't/doesn't".
Ex 4 : when "have" is clearly an auxiliary verb, the question tag will be with "haven't/hasn't" (.....and "hadn't" ?)
Ex 5 : when we use "have + got ", it's always "hasn't/haven't" in the tag.

Now the third example : "You have a car, don't you ?" I understand that "have" is used as a main verb meaning "to possess something" and thus the "don't" in the tag but would it be wrong (or just unusual) to say "you have a car, haven't you ?".
It's just that I've looked up in a grammar book and found this in an exercice : "She has a good voice, hasn't she ?" and the alternative "She has a good voice, doesn't she ?" isn't even mentioned ! So I'm confused....

[muribad]

While I'm at it, would it be correct to say
"you have got a bee in your bonnet" ?
and then would it be correct to add "haven't you ?" ????

I think I should stop thinking about it, the bee is really in my bonnet now !

[Casiopea]

It's just that I've looked up in a grammar book and found this in an exercice : "She has a good voice, hasn't she ?" and the alternative "She has a good voice, doesn't she ?" isn't even mentioned ! So I'm confused....

Check your book, muriband. Is it British English or American English?

In North American English--remember English has more than one dialect--the verb have takes DO as a tag, if have is the only verb in the sentence.

Ex: She has a good voice, doesn't she? North American English

[Casiopea]

While I'm at it, would it be correct to say
"you have got a bee in your bonnet" ?
and then would it be correct to add "haven't you ?" ????

I think I should stop thinking about it, the bee is really in my bonnet now !

Both of these are English:

Ex: You have a bee in your bonnet, don't you? USA
Ex: You have a bee in your bonnet, haven't you? UK

[belly_ttt]

Good question, muribad.
It's not that when you change to "have got" means you change the question tag.

First case:
Do you know the present perfect tense:
You have got my money back, haven't you?
have here is an auxiliary for got

Second case:

Specially in British English, have got is equal to "have"
in AmE
Ex: I have got a new toy car
= I have a new toy car

Question tag:
You have got a new toy car, don't you?


---> Not a teacher