[Grammar] "Have you" and "Do you have"

[Mrs.Almost]

1. Have you anything on them?
2. Do you have anything on them?
I found the first one in my textbook, as opposed to the last one. Is it correct? If so, could you tell me why it's acceptable?

 

[emsr2d2]

1. Have you anything on them?
2. Do you have anything on them?
I found the first one in my textbook, as opposed to the last one. Is it correct? If so, could you tell me why it's acceptable?

There have been a few similar threads recently. The use of the reversed verb construction in order to ask a question was used before we introduced the auxiliary verb "Do".

Have you any coffee?
Do you have any coffee?

Has he a girlfriend?
Does he have a girlfriend?

Have they a house in the country?
Do they have a house in the country?

The two versions mean exactly the same thing, but the first now sounds rather archaic and very formal.

 

[BobK]

The 'do you' form originally had a different usage; it was an imperative. You may come across this in old documents.

b

 

[Nightmare85]

**Neither a teacher nor a native speaker.**

I discussed this topic (a similar one) with another member some days ago.

Have you any coffee? -> more common for British English
Do you have any coffee? -> more common for American English

Cheers!

 

[emsr2d2]

**Neither a teacher nor a native speaker.**

I discussed this topic (a similar one) with another member some days ago.

Have you any coffee? -> more common for British English
Do you have any coffee? -> more common for American English

Cheers!

Once upon a time, yes (the BrE version). However, apart from in threads on here I haven't heard anyone actually say "Have you any coffee?" for years! I would say we use "Have you got any coffee?" more often than any other version (in my experience).

My grandfather still says "Have you any...?" but he's 89 years old, and a lot of his sentence construction is very old-fashioned.

 

[BobK]

:up: The only times you might hear the question 'Have you any coffee?' are:

• In a food-shop, where someone can only see tea and asks an assistant
• At a formal coffee party (these are rare - though I had a bilingual friend who held Kaffeetrinken, with coffee and cake, and several charities have started organizing 'coffee mornings'), when the host/ess is checking that everyone has been served. (Informally s/he might say 'Has everyone got coffee?' though)

b

 

[emsr2d2]

:up: The only times you might hear the question 'Have you any coffee?' are:

• In a food-shop, where someone can only see tea and asks an assistant
• At a formal coffee party (these are rare - though I had a bilingual friend who held Kaffeetrinken, with coffee and cake, and several charities have started organizing 'coffee mornings'), when the host/ess is checking that everyone has been served. (Informally s/he might say 'Has everyone got coffee?' though)

b

Ah, yes, at the very end of your post you mentioned exactly what I was going to point out. In the supermarket example, I think "Have you got any coffee?" would be the more commonly used question. In fact, it may well be shortened to "Got any coffee?"!!