How to Use Have or Had? (Explained, with Examples)

What's the past tense of "have"?

The simple past tense of have is had, and the past participle is also had. Use had for both simple past and past participle forms.

Definition of have

The Oxford English Dictionary defines have as "to possess, own, or hold something; to experience or undergo something; to be obliged or required to do something." It's one of the most common verbs in English and functions both as a main verb and as an auxiliary verb.

• The past tense of have is had.

• The past participle of have is had.

Verb forms of 'have'

Is "have" a regular or irregular verb?

Note: Regular verbs end in -ed in the past tense. Any other verb ending is considered irregular.

While an irregular verb, 'have' shows a highly common verb-conjugation pattern. Similar to other verbs like do/did/done, go/went/gone, and make/made/made, have uses different forms for past tense and past participle.

Similar irregular verbs

When to use "had" (past) vs. "had" (participle)

I had a dentist appointment yesterday.

I have had this car for five years.

The verb participle form of a verb (shown in the second sentence) uses the auxiliary verb have as a contraction, I've.

When auxiliaries like have or had appear in the same sentence as a past participle verb form, this indicates that the verb's aspect is in the present or past perfect, and not the simple past tense.

Remember, a participle always uses a helper verb to form the complete tense or aspect. Simple tenses, on the other hand, can stand on their own.

Sentence examples: have, had, had

Synonyms & nearby words

FAQs

Sources

1. Oxford English Dictionary. "have, v." OED Online. Oxford University Press. Date of access 15 Oct. 2025.
2. Cambridge Dictionary. "have." Cambridge University Press. Date of access 15 Oct. 2025.