Which tenses take on HAS, HAVE and HAD?

You may be wondering which tenses take on HAS, HAVE and HAD if you are studying English.  It can get a bit confusing!  So let's take a look:

The Present Tense: HAS or HAVE?

Quite simply, for the verb TO HAVE, there are two conjugations: HAS and HAVE.  Notice that the third person singular is the only subject that takes on HAS 

Singular                             Plural

I                   HAVE             We       HAVE

You              HAVE             You     HAVE

He                HAS                They    HAVE

She               HAS

It (my dog)  HAS

The Past Tense: HAD...

What makes English so easy is the fact that its past tenses are all the same.  The past tense of HAVE is always HAD, so it makes it super easy to remember.

Singular                                   Plural

I                      HAD                  We       HAD

You                 HAD                 You      HAD

He                   HAD                 They     HAD

She                  HAD

It (my dog)      HAD                 

Okay, that's easy, but what about the PRESENT PERFECT?

The present perfect is used to express past happenings that continue to the present or relate to the present.  It always takes on an auxiliary verb TO HAVE plus the past participle.  Let's take a look using the verb TO SEE.  To understand when and why we use the present perfect, click here on another post. 

Singular                                         Plural

I                      HAVE SEEN         We       HAVE SEEN

You                HAVE SEEN         You      HAVE SEEN

He                  HAS SEEN            They    HAVE SEEN

She                 HAS SEEN

It (the dog)    HAS SEEN

Notice here that again, the 3rd person singular takes on the verb conjugation HAS.

And what about the PAST PERFECT?

Once again, the past perfect is easy because the auxiliary verb does not change.  It is always HAD + the past participle.  Let's take a look using the verb TO BE in the past participle:

Singular                                               Plural

I                      HAD GONE                We            HAD GONE

You                 HAD GONE               You           HAD GONE

He                   HAD GONE               They          HAD GONE

She                  HAD GONE

It (my dog)      HAD GONE

What's the difference between WAS and WERE?

Here is another post for my beginning ESL students about the difference between WAS and WERE, a very simple concept, yet many of my students still have a bit of trouble remembering the conjugations and often confuse the pronouns.

Past Tense: TO BE

I           WAS

You     WERE

He        WAS

She      WAS

It          WAS

We       WERE

They    WERE

As you can see here, we have two groups of pronouns for each conjugation.  (I, he, she and it take on WAS, while (you, we and they) take on WERE.  Now let's take a look at negative statements and their abbreviations with apostrophes:

Negative Past Tense: TO BE

I was not= I wasn't

You were not=You weren't

He was not=He wasn't

She was not=She wasn't

It was not=It wasn't

We were not=We weren't

They were not=They weren't

A quick note about apostrophes: Apostrophes take the place of a letter or letters.  In this case it's only one letter...the letter 'o'.

Interrogative Past Tense: TO BE (Interrogative is a fancy word for question...)

Now remember that with the verb form TO BE and forming questions, we just switch the subject and the verb.   (I was tired./Was I tired?)  Also remember that we don't need to use any auxiliary verbs with the verb TO BE (such as do, does or did...)

Wasn't I a great speaker?

Were you not at work today?

Was he eating dinner?

Was she calling you?

Was it the final decision?

Were we late?

Were they at the police station?

Now we can add (Who, What, When, Where, Why) to these questions:

Why wasn't I a great speaker?

When were you at work today?

Where was he eating dinner?

What was she calling you about?

Why was it the final decision?

When were we late?

Why were they at the movies?

Here is an old post about interrogative present tense TO BE in case you're curious. 

I hope this helps!

Overview: Conditionals 1, 2, 3

In English, there are many ways to express situations according to a certain condition in the present and the past, as well as a varying degree of possibility.  Basically, we have the following framework to express different situations:

Conditional 1:

a) possible event that depends on a condition

b) refers to the future

c) grammar tenses=present, future

If I get into a car accident, my auto insurance will cover the hospital bills.
 (present)                                                                   (future)

He will call you if his plane lands early.
      (future)                         (present)

If the citizens elect a new president, then I will find a new job.
                    (present)                                    (future)

I will inform you if I get the job.
     (future)             (present)

Conditional 2:
a) possible OR impossible situation
b) the possible situations refer to the future, the impossible is hypothetical (use your imagination!)
c) grammar tenses=past, "would" (a modal verb)

d) *Even though we use the past tense, it DOES NOT refer to the actual past

If I won a million dollars, I would donate to SOS charities. (possible in the future)
     (past)                                 (modal verb)

If I were you, I would see a doctor as soon as possible. (impossible, hypothetical)
      (past)          (modal verb)

I would renovate the house if I had more money. (possible in the future)
   (modal verb)                          (past)

I would be King John III if I could be anybody for one day.  (impossible, hypothetical)
 (modal verb)                         (past)

Conditional 3:

a) impossible situations

b) impossible situations that refer to a finished, unreachable past

c) grammar: past perfect (had+past participle), modal perfect verb (would have+past participle)

If my mother had spoken German with me as a little girl, I would have been a fluent German speaker!        (past perfect)                                                      (modal perfect verb)

She would not have failed the exam if she had studied more. 
        (modal perfect verb)                            (past perfect)

If I had gone to the doctor a month ago, I would have recovered by now.
 (past perfect)                                                 ( modal perfect verb)

They would not have broken up if he had treated her better.
            (modal verb)                              (past perfect)