Have Had vs Had
Identifying the difference between have had and had may be difficult to some, especially because understanding the usage of the word have had is a bit complicated. Therefore, we can say that have had and had are two words that are often confused when it comes to their usage. They certainly have different usages when it comes to English grammar. Have had as you can see is in the present perfect tense. Have is the main verb here. Normally, we use have and an object to speak about common actions. In such an instance, if we use present perfect form of have that means we want to connect the present with the recent past in some kind of a way. Had, on the other hand, is very simple to understand as it is the past form of the verb ‘to have’ which is also used as an auxiliary verb in the past perfect tense.
What does Have Had mean?
Have had, the present perfect form of have, is used when we want to connect the present with the recent past in some kind of a way. The usage of have had is as in the sentences given below.
I have had enough of food in the morning.
They have had some fight among themselves.
In both the sentences, you can find that the word have had is used in the sense of ‘took’ in the case of the first sentence, and ‘fought’ in the case of the second sentence. In other words, the usage of ‘have had’ is something similar to ‘had’, but with a little stress or emphasis on the action. In the first sentence, the stress was laid on the action of ‘taking’ whereas, in the second sentence, the stress was laid on the action of ‘fighting’.
Thus, the meaning of the first sentence would be ‘I took enough of food in the morning’ and the meaning of the second sentence would be ‘they fought among themselves’. In short, it can be said that the expression have had is used to represent actions that took place not too long ago and also the things or actions that need stress or emphasis.
What does Had mean?
Had is the past form of the verb ‘to have.’ Look at the following examples.
She had a bag.
I had an umbrella.
They had a huge quarrel.
You can see that had is used with both singular and plural nouns and pronouns. On the other hand, the word had is also used in the case of the past perfect tense forms as in the sentences given below.
It had rained last month.
She had given a book to me last year.
It is important to know that the word had is used in both the sentences given above in the case of past perfect tenses. It is interesting to know that the word had is used in the case of all the three persons, namely, first person, second person and third person.
What is the difference between Have Had and Had?
• Have had is used when we want to connect the present with the recent past in some kind of a way. Have had is in the present perfect tense.
• Had is the past form of the verb ‘to have’ which is also used as an auxiliary verb in the past perfect tense.
• Have had is only used with plural nouns and pronouns while had is used with both singular and plural nouns and pronouns. Had is also used with first, second and third persons.