Have vs. Have Been: Know the Difference

By Shumaila Saeed || Published on January 14, 2024

"Have" indicates possession or experience, while "Have Been" is used in perfect tenses to show an action's connection to the present.

Have vs. Have Been

Key Differences

Have refers to possessing or experiencing something. It is a present tense verb used to describe ownership, relationships, or experiences. Have Been, however, is the present perfect tense of "be," indicating a state or action that began in the past and continues into the present.

Jan 14, 2024

In grammar, Have is a main verb and auxiliary verb for present perfect tense. It conveys direct action or possession. Have Been serves as an auxiliary verb for present perfect continuous tense, emphasizing the duration of an action or state from past to present.

Jan 14, 2024

Have can stand alone as a main verb or work with other verbs to create perfect tenses. It's straightforward in its application. Have Been, as part of the present perfect continuous tense, always pairs with a present participle, highlighting ongoing actions or states.

Jan 14, 2024

Usage of Have often relates to experiences, possessions, or actions in a simple, present context. Have Been suggests a link between past actions or states and the present, focusing on the continuity or effect of these actions.

Jan 14, 2024

Have can also express necessity or obligation, as in "You have to see this movie." Have Been lacks this function and is strictly used in continuous or perfect tenses to describe actions or states extending from past to present.

Jan 14, 2024

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Comparison Chart

Primary Function

Indicates possession or experience.

Indicates continued action or state.

Jan 14, 2024

Grammatical Role

Main verb or auxiliary verb.

Auxiliary verb in perfect tenses.

Jan 14, 2024

Tense Association

Present tense.

Present perfect continuous tense.

Jan 14, 2024

Focus

Direct action or possession.

Duration and continuity of action.

Jan 14, 2024

Usage in Sentence Structure

Can be a standalone verb.

Always used with a present participle.

Jan 14, 2024

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Have and Have Been Definitions

Have

"I have a car."

Ownership of something.

Dec 20, 2023

Have Been

"I have been traveling."

Ongoing action of travel.

Dec 20, 2023

Have

"I have a brother."

Describes a personal connection.

Dec 20, 2023

Have Been

"I have been tired lately."

Describes a continuous state.

Dec 20, 2023

Have

"I have to work today."

Expresses necessity or duty.

Dec 20, 2023

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Have Been

"I have been studying for hours."

Indicates ongoing activity over time.

Dec 20, 2023

Have

To be in possession of

Already had a car.

Dec 13, 2023

Have Been

"I have been to Spain."

Experience linking past to present.

Dec 20, 2023

Have

To possess as a characteristic, quality, or function

Has a beard.

Had a great deal of energy.

Dec 13, 2023

Have Been

"I have been working at this company for five years."

Continual employment.

Dec 20, 2023

Have

To possess or contain as a constituent part

A car that has air bags.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To occupy a particular relation to

Had many disciples.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To possess knowledge of or facility in

Has very little Spanish.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To hold in the mind; entertain

Had doubts about their loyalty.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To use or exhibit in action

Have compassion.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To come into possession of; acquire

Not one copy of the book was to be had in the entire town.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To receive; get

I had a letter from my cousin.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To accept; take

I'll have the peas instead of the spinach.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To suffer from

Have defective vision.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To be subject to the experience of

Had a difficult time last winter.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To cause to do something, as by persuasion or compulsion

Had my assistant run the errand.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To cause to be in a specified place or state

Had the guests in the dining room.

Had everyone fascinated.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To permit; allow

I won't have that kind of behavior in my house.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To carry on, perform, or execute

Have an argument.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To place at a disadvantage

Your opponent in the debate had you on every issue.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

(Informal) To get the better of, especially by trickery or deception

They realized too late that they'd been had by a swindler.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

(Informal) To influence by dishonest means; bribe

An incorruptible official who could not be had.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To procreate (offspring)

Wanted to have a child.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To give birth to; bear

She's going to have a baby.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To partake of

Have lunch.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To be obliged to; must

We simply have to get there on time.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To engage in sexual intercourse with.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

Used with a past participle to form the present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect tenses indicating completed action

The troublemaker has gone for good. I regretted that I had lost my temper. They will have finished by the time we arrive.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

One enjoying especially material wealth

"The gulf widens between the feast of the haves and the famine of the have-nots" (Salman Rushdie).

Dec 13, 2023

Have

(transitive) To possess, own.

I have a house and a car.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

(transitive) To hold, as something at someone's disposal.

Look what I have here—a frog I found on the street!

Dec 13, 2023

Have

(transitive) To include as a part, ingredient, or feature.

The stove has a handle. The shirt has sleeves.

The words cow and dog have three letters.

A government has three branches: the executive, legislative, and judicial.

The movie has lots of action.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

(transitive) Used to state the existence or presence of someone in a specified relationship with the subject.

I have two sisters.

She doesn’t have any friends.

I have a really mean boss.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

(transitive) To consume or use up (a particular substance or resource, especially food or drink).

I have breakfast at six o'clock.

You've already had five drinks!

She's had more than enough time already.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

(transitive) To undertake or perform (an action or activity).

Can I have a look at that?

He's having a tantrum about it.

I’m going to have a bath now.

Let’s have a game of tiddlywinks.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

(transitive) To be scheduled to attend, undertake or participate in.

What class do you have right now? I have English.

Fred won’t be able to come to the party; he has a meeting that day.

I have a lot of work to do.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To experience, go through, undergo.

We had a hard year last year, with the locust swarms and all that.

He had surgery on his hip yesterday.

I’m having the time of my life!

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To be afflicted with, suffer from.

He had a cold last week.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

(auxiliary verb, taking a past participle) Used in forming the perfect aspect.

I have already eaten today.

I had already eaten.

I will have left by the time you get here.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

Used as an interrogative verb before a pronoun to form a tag question, echoing a previous use of 'have' as an auxiliary verb or, in certain cases, main verb. (For further discussion, see the appendix English tag questions.)

They haven’t eaten dinner yet, have they?

Your wife hasn’t been reading that nonsense, has she?

He has some money, hasn’t he?

Dec 13, 2023

Have

See have to.

I have to go.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

(transitive) To give birth to.

The couple always wanted to have children.

My wife is having the baby right now!

My mother had me when she was 25.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

(usually passive) To obtain.

The substance you describe can't be had at any price.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

(transitive) To engage in sexual intercourse with.

He’s always bragging about how many women he’s had.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

(transitive) To accept as a romantic partner.

Despite my protestations of love, she would not have me.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To cause to, by a command, request or invitation.

They had me feed their dog while they were out of town.

Her very boyfriend is the person the criminal has do most of her dirty deeds.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To cause to be.

He had him arrested for trespassing.

The lecture’s ending had the entire audience in tears.

Jim has his eyes closed.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To be affected by an occurrence. (Used in supplying a topic that is not a verb argument.)

The hospital had several patients contract pneumonia last week.

I’ve had three people today tell me my hair looks nice.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To depict as being.

Their stories differed; he said he’d been at work when the incident occurred, but her statement had him at home that entire evening.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To defeat in a fight; take.

I could have him!

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To inflict punishment or retribution on.

You broke the window! Teacher’ll have you for that!

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To be able to speak (a language).

I have no German.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To feel or be (especially painfully) aware of.

Dan certainly has arms today, probably from scraping paint off four columns the day before.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To trick, to deceive.

I bought a laptop online but it never arrived. I think I've been had!

You had me alright! I never would have thought that was just a joke.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To allow; to tolerate.

The child screamed incessantly for his mother to buy him a toy, but she wasn't having any of it.

I asked my dad if I could go to the concert this Thursday, but he wouldn't have it since it's a school night.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To believe, buy, be taken in by.

I made up an excuse as to why I was out so late, but my wife wasn't having any of it.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

(transitive) To host someone; to take in as a guest.

Thank you for having me!

Dec 13, 2023

Have

(transitive) To get a reading, measurement, or result from an instrument or calculation.

What do you have for problem two?

I have two contacts on my scope.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To consider a court proceeding that has been completed; to begin deliberations on a case.

We’ll schedule closing arguments for Thursday, and the jury will have the case by that afternoon.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To make an observation of (a bird species).

Dec 13, 2023

Have

A wealthy or privileged person.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

(uncommon) One who has some (contextually specified) thing.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

A fraud or deception; something misleading.

They advertise it as a great deal, but I think it's a bit of a have.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To hold in possession or control; to own; as, he has a farm.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To possess, as something which appertains to, is connected with, or affects, one.

The earth hath bubbles, as the water has.

He had a fever late.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To accept possession of; to take or accept.

Break thy mind to me in broken English; wilt thou have me?

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To get possession of; to obtain; to get.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To cause or procure to be; to effect; to exact; to desire; to require.

I had the church accurately described to me.

Wouldst thou have me turn traitor also?

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To bear, as young; as, she has just had a child.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To hold, regard, or esteem.

Of them shall I be had in honor.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To cause or force to go; to take.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To take or hold (one's self); to proceed promptly; - used reflexively, often with ellipsis of the pronoun; as, to have after one; to have at one or at a thing, i. e., to aim at one or at a thing; to attack; to have with a companion.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To be under necessity or obligation; to be compelled; followed by an infinitive.

Science has, and will long have, to be a divider and a separatist.

The laws of philology have to be established by external comparison and induction.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To understand.

You have me, have you not?

Dec 13, 2023

Have

To put in an awkward position; to have the advantage of; as, that is where he had him.

Myself for such a face had boldly died.

Dec 13, 2023

Have

A person who possesses great material wealth

Dec 13, 2023

Have

Have or possess, either in a concrete or an abstract sense;

She has $1,000 in the bank

He has got two beautiful daughters

She holds a Master's degree from Harvard

Dec 13, 2023

Have

Have as a feature;

This restaurant features the most famous chefs in France

Dec 13, 2023

Have

Of mental or physical states or experiences;

Get an idea

Experience vertigo

Get nauseous

Undergo a strange sensation

The chemical undergoes a sudden change

The fluid undergoes shear

Receive injuries

Have a feeling

Dec 13, 2023

Have

Have ownership or possession of;

He owns three houses in Florida

How many cars does she have?

Dec 13, 2023

Have

Cause to move; cause to be in a certain position or condition;

He got his squad on the ball

This let me in for a big surprise

He got a girl into trouble

Dec 13, 2023

Have

Serve oneself to, or consume regularly;

Have another bowl of chicken soup!

I don't take sugar in my coffee

Dec 13, 2023

Have

Have a personal or business relationship with someone;

Have a postdoc

Have an assistant

Have a lover

Dec 13, 2023

Have

Organize or be responsible for;

Hold a reception

Have, throw, or make a party

Give a course

Dec 13, 2023

Have

Have left;

I have two years left

I don't have any money left

They have two more years before they retire

Dec 13, 2023

Have

Be confronted with;

What do we have here?

Now we have a fine mess

Dec 13, 2023

Have

Undergo;

The stocks had a fast run-up

Dec 13, 2023

Have

Suffer from; be ill with;

She has arthritis

Dec 13, 2023

Have

Cause to do; cause to act in a specified manner;

The ads induced me to buy a VCR

My children finally got me to buy a computer

My wife made me buy a new sofa

Dec 13, 2023

Have

Receive willingly something given or offered;

The only girl who would have him was the miller's daughter

I won't have this dog in my house!

Please accept my present

Dec 13, 2023

Have

Get something; come into possession of;

Receive payment

Receive a gift

Receive letters from the front

Dec 13, 2023

Have

Undergo (as of injuries and illnesses);

She suffered a fracture in the accident

He had an insulin shock after eating three candy bars

She got a bruise on her leg

He got his arm broken in the scuffle

Dec 13, 2023

Have

Achieve a point or goal;

Nicklaus had a 70

The Brazilian team got 4 goals

She made 29 points that day

Dec 13, 2023

Have

Give birth (to a newborn);

My wife had twins yesterday!

Dec 13, 2023

Have

Have sex with; archaic use;

He had taken this woman when she was most vulnerable

Dec 13, 2023

Have

"I have visited London."

Indicates past experience.

Dec 20, 2023

Have

"I have a cold."

Describes experiencing an illness.

Dec 20, 2023

Repeatedly Asked Queries

Is "have been" always followed by another verb?

Yes, "have been" is always used with a present participle (verb ending in -ing).

Jan 14, 2024

When is "have been" used?

"Have been" is used in perfect tenses to indicate a continuous action or state from past to present.

Jan 14, 2024

What does "have" express in a sentence?

"Have" can express possession, experience, relationship, or obligation.

Jan 14, 2024

Does "have been" imply a completed action?

Not necessarily; it can refer to ongoing actions or states.

Jan 14, 2024

Can "have" be used in questions?

Yes, as in "Have you seen my keys?"

Jan 14, 2024

Is "have been" appropriate for describing temporary states?

Yes, especially if the state continues to the present.

Jan 14, 2024

Does "have" always need an object?

Generally, yes, when used to express possession or experience.

Jan 14, 2024

Can "have" stand alone as a verb?

Yes, "have" can function as a main verb on its own.

Jan 14, 2024

Can "have" indicate past experiences?

Yes, in present perfect tense, "have" can describe past experiences affecting the present.

Jan 14, 2024

Can "have" express necessity?

Yes, it can express obligation or necessity, like in "I have to go."

Jan 14, 2024

Is "have been" used for actions that are still happening?

Yes, it often indicates actions or states that started in the past and continue to the present.

Jan 14, 2024

Is "have been" used in present perfect tense?

Yes, it's used in the present perfect and present perfect continuous tenses.

Jan 14, 2024

Is "have been" used in passive voice constructions?

Yes, it can be used in passive voice in perfect continuous tenses.

Jan 14, 2024

Can "have" be contracted in informal speech?

Yes, like "I've" for "I have."

Jan 14, 2024

Can "have" be used to talk about health conditions?

Yes, "have" is commonly used to describe health conditions, like "I have a headache."

Jan 14, 2024

Is "have" used in idiomatic expressions?

Yes, such as "have a good time."

Jan 14, 2024

What is the difference between "have" and "have been" in terms of time?

"Have" is present tense, while "have been" connects past actions or states to the present.

Jan 14, 2024

Can "have" be replaced with "have got" in some contexts?

Yes, especially in British English, like "I've got a car."

Jan 14, 2024

Does "have been" always refer to a long duration?

Not always, but it often implies a significant time span.

Jan 14, 2024

Can "have been" describe repeated actions?

Yes, especially in contexts like "I have been visiting that café for years."

Jan 14, 2024

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About Author

Written by

Shumaila Saeed, an expert content creator with 6 years of experience, specializes in distilling complex topics into easily digestible comparisons, shining a light on the nuances that both inform and educate readers with clarity and accuracy.

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