By Jacqueline Schaalje

Illustrations by Akau Anyieth.

Now I’ll teach you some important expression & grammar point about things that other people do for you.

You can say this in a number of ways.

For example:

I don’t cut my own hair.

I haven’t tried cutting my hair since I was a kid. I suspect it would look pretty awful.

So, my hairdresser cuts my hair.

I have my hairdresser cut my hair.

With have.

So when you say: have someone do something, it means I asked this person to do something for me.

If you talk about someone else who asked another person to do something, you need to say “has:” Mandy has her hairdresser cut her hair.

Because he, she and it is with has, not have.

Another example:

Archie doesn’t work in his garden.

His gardener works in it.

So Archie has his gardener work in his garden.

Here are some more examples:

Try to make your own sentences about them, okay?

My sentence: ____________________________________________________

Answer: He has his clothes cleaned at the drycleaner’s.

Or, if you want this to happen now, say: He is having his clothes cleaned at the drycleaner’s.

My sentence: ____________________________________________________

Answer: He has his car fixed at the garage.

Or, if you want this to happen now, say: He is having his car fixed at the garage.

The word that you see in the picture, “serviced,” means that the oil and cooling liquid are replaced and/or that the car is repaired. So basically it means the same as fix.

My sentence: ____________________________________________________

Answer: She has her car washed.

Or if it happens now: She’s having her car washed.

My sentence: ____________________________________________________

Answer: She has her prescription filled.

Or if it happens now: She’s having her prescription filled.

Have Someone Do Something for you in the Past

What do you do with the past tense? Use had.

She had her car washed yesterday.

This morning, he had his clothes cleaned.

Here’s a quiz where you need to transform the sentence into one with a form of have:

Quiz 

Click here to do this quiz online. 

 

Want to do more quizzes with has and have? Have a look here:

Have and has, understanding what is what