[General] He has a car?

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suniljain

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He has a car.

Is this a present perfect tense? I doubt due to following reason-
1) We have not used past participle of any verb.

2) " Has" is also not the "to be" form of verb.

May be this sentence signifies possession so the above rules are not applicable. Please clarify.
 

emsr2d2

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"He has a car" is the present simple. It refers to possession. It means "He owns a car". "Has" is the third person singular form of the verb "have" in the present simple tense.
 

suniljain

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Thank you. Just to clear on doubt, What I know is that we use "has" and "have" as an auxiliary verb and is used with present perfect tense only. But in the above sentence we have used it with present simple. Please help me to understand.
 

Barb_D

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What I know is that we use "has" and "have" as an auxiliary verb and is used with present perfect tense only.

This is not true.
"To have" is used as main verb in many, many sentences.

I have four cats.
I have a headache.
He has red hair.
They have twin daughters.

Yes, it is used as the auxiliary verb for the present and past perfect, but that is not its only use.
 

suniljain

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I understand that "to be" form of verb can be used as main verb like is, am, are, be, was, were etc but "have" is not the "to be " form. Please clarify.
 

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You are correct. "Have" is not a form of "to be".
 

suniljain

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You are correct. "Have" is not a form of "to be".

But in the following sentences we have used "have" and "Has" where it has used as a main verb. Am I missing something?

I have four cats.
I have a headache.
He has red hair.
They have twin daughters.

Another example: I am a boy. (here "am" is used as a main verb ("to be form") and which is "to be" form but have is not the "to be" form".
 

MikeNewYork

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You haven't missed anything. "Have" and "has" can be used as main verbs. So can forms of the verb "to be".

I have a dog.
Fluffy is the dog's name.

John has a horse.
The horse was a farm horse.
 

suniljain

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You haven't missed anything. "Have" and "has" can be used as main verbs. So can forms of the verb "to be".

I have a dog.
Fluffy is the dog's name.

John has a horse.
The horse was a farm horse.

I learnt somewhere that "has" and "have" is not the form of the verb "to be". Also please see thread#6

Also are the following sentences present simple tense?
I have a dog.
Fluffy is the dog's name.
 

MikeNewYork

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Nobody has suggested that have/has are forms of "to be". Why do you keep bringing that up?
 

suniljain

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I learnt somewhere that "has" and "have" is not the form of the verb "to be". Also please see thread#6 & 8. Aren't they contradictory to each other?
 

emsr2d2

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"To be" and "to have" are completely separate verbs. They can both be used as the main verb in a sentence, in a variety of tenses.

I am a woman = first person singular form of the verb "to be".
I have a cat = first person singular form of the verb "to have".

For now, forget about the fact that in the present perfect and the past perfect tenses, a form of "to have" appears before another verb. That is irrelevant to our current conversation.

What you need to concentrate on at the moment is that in the present tense, "to be" and "to have" are completely unconnected. They are different verbs with different meanings.

"I am a cat" does not mean the same as "I have a cat".
 

Matthew Wai

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A few months ago, in this thread, I asked the OP a question, which was subsequently deleted by emsr2d2 for the reason that it was 'Likely to confuse. We know the OP doesn't know the verb "to have".'

I hope now is the time to ask it again. If not, please delete it again.
The question is: 'Do you know the difference between "I have a debtor" and "I am a debtor"?'
 

MikeNewYork

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It is the same difference as "I have a farm" and "I am a farm" or "I have a baseball" and "I am a baseball". I must be missing something. Why is this a difficult concept?
 

suniljain

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A few months ago, in this thread, I asked the OP a question, which was subsequently deleted by emsr2d2 for the reason that it was 'Likely to confuse. We know the OP doesn't know the verb "to have".'

I hope now is the time to ask it again. If not, please delete it again.
The question is: 'Do you know the difference between "I have a debtor" and "I am a debtor"?'

Of course I know the difference between above sentences. The first sentence means that debtor will pay me and the 2nd setence means that I have to pay someone since I am a debtor of someone. Have denotes possession here.
Trust this explain that I understand the difference between have and am.
 

bhaisahab

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I am closing this thread before it causes anyone to explode in frustration.
 
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