Thread: Help! Could you explain to me what difference is in?

Hello, my dear friends!
I don’t understand the difference between following sentences:
I have a car.
and
I have got a car.

What does “got” give? When should I use it and when I shouldn’t? How a shade of meaning can change the “got”????? Does difference of shade of meaning exist at all?
Please, help

No difference in meaning.

In this context "got" is colloquial. And since it is colloquial it should be, "I've got a car." In normal speech we use "got" when talking about any sort of possessions. The only difference is that if you were being formal, or writing something serious I would not say "got".

Formal writing: Jon has three children.
Ordinary speaking: Jon's got three kids.

Is that clear or do you have more questions?

'I have got a car' is typical British usage. American usage is (at least that's what they used to tell us in school) 'I have a car'. This goes for anything you actually possess, but you don't say 'I've got a sister' as a sister is not a possession of yours.

In questions, British usage tends towards 'have you got a car?' whereas American usage tends towards 'do you have a car?'

Robin

Paulb, thank you for the explanation. That is clear.
Robin, I am thinking about what you wrote down. I compare your post and Paulb’s one. I’ve got another question again.
Paulb said:

Originally Posted by paulb

Ordinary speaking: Jon's got three kids.

You said:

Originally Posted by bitpicker

you don't say 'I've got a sister' as a sister is not a possession of yours

I think that the concept “kids” is equal to concept “sister”. Both of them are genetic relatives, they are not something like a car, a bus, an apple etc. what I can possess.
Why can I say like Paulb said?

Yesterday I googled for a couple of explanations before I wrote my comment, in order not to miss any rules I should have mentioned. The one regarding 'sister' or other relatives felt pretty clear then; it doesn't anymore, today. It tends to be that way if you think too hard about a linguistic concept.

You know, the actual example used on the site I saw yesterday used 'father' - and parents are something you obviously have, whereas a sister or children are not as obvious. I still think 'I've got a father' sounds strange, at least more so than 'I've got kids'.

Primarily the difference is between English and American usage. However, I don't think either side will see the opposite expression as wrong, so you can simply see them as alternatives to choose from.

Robin

Shouldn't it be "I have gotten a car"?

This article says:

But it is not used in the sense of possession (= have)
http://www-personal.umich.edu/~jlawler/aue/gotten.html

So it looks like "I have gotten a car" is OK in British English but not American English, is that right?

'Gotten' is an American form, not a British one. It is also usually considered colloquial. (As the article says, British speakers using it anyway often get it wrong - that's because it is an American phenomenon).

It isn't unviersally accepted in the US either, so I wouldn't see it as a valid grammatical form to be learned. It does have its uses, though.

Robin

Originally Posted by bitpicker

'Gotten' is an American form, not a British one. It is also usually considered colloquial. (As the article says, British speakers using it anyway often get it wrong - that's because it is an American phenomenon).

It isn't unviersally accepted in the US either, so I wouldn't see it as a valid grammatical form to be learned. It does have its uses, though.

Robin

This isn't actually true. "Gotten" is as old a word as you'll find in the English language. It's fallen out of fashion over the last couple of centuries pretty much everywhere, but to different extents. In Oxbridge English (which is the dominant variant in written BrE) it has disappeared almost completely, surviving only in some fossilised phrases like "ill-gotten", but in General American English and many dialects of BrE it has merely been relegated to the status of coloquialism. I can assure you that "gotten" is alive and well in much of Scotland, for example.

тогда у меня возник один вопрос, как мне сказать:
"Я достал машину"
имеется ввиду добыл, получил - например договорились что я раздобуду машину для поездки и я ее достал (получил, нашел)?

Originally Posted by bitpicker

The one regarding 'sister' or other relatives felt pretty clear then; it doesn't anymore, today. It tends to be that way if you think too hard about a linguistic concept.

It is like that because I think in Russian. We say "Кот/cat", "Кошка/cat" as He and She. English use "it" for both. Ребенок maybe "Он/she", "Она/he" but cannot be "it/оно". We (Russian and English) have a difference between definitions of genus of animate objects and inanimate ones. We have another way of definition.

We never say like this
Я имею сестру/брата/ребенка
or
Я владею сестрой/братом/ребенком/детьми

the verbs "владеть", 'иметь' can be used with inanimate objects only. If somebody break this little rule, then his/her speech may be even ambiguous.

Originally Posted by bitpicker

You know, the actual example used on the site I saw yesterday used 'father' - and parents are something you obviously have, whereas a sister or children are not as obvious. I still think 'I've got a father' sounds strange, at least more so than 'I've got kids'.

I think it sounds strange ('I've got a father' ) because an hierarchy exists between concept "father"/"parents" and concept "children"/son/daughter. (primarily was parents, children was after them). Sister/brother is one level with me, so consept of Sister/brother =concept of 'parents' (Дети - после, родители - до, а братья, сестры - рядом)

It is very good that the English language does not have logic of the Russian one.

Just to be clear here,

you can use "I've got . . ." in front of any word where you might use the possessive pronoun "my". This includes all family members, relations of any kind (boss, teacher, student, coworker, etc), pets, ideas, physical possessions, etc.

"I've got" means exactly the same thing as "I have". This is different than "I got" or "I've gotten" which mean "I received".

The only reason "I've got a father" sounds strange is that it is too obvious to say. It is like saying "I have hands." It could still make sense if answering a question like, "Who is living in your house now?" "I've got my father, the two kids, and a golden retriever."

Originally Posted by paulb

Just to be clear here,

you can use "I've got . . ." in front of any word where you might use the possessive pronoun "my". This includes all family members, relations of any kind (boss, teacher, student, coworker, etc), pets, ideas, physical possessions, etc.

"I've got" means exactly the same thing as "I have". This is different than "I got" or "I've gotten" which mean "I received".

The only reason "I've got a father" sounds strange is that it is too obvious to say. It is like saying "I have hands." It could still make sense if answering a question like, "Who is living in your house now?" "I've got my father, the two kids, and a golden retriever."

Thank you very much. Everything what refer to “I have a car” and “ I have got a car” found their places in my mind.

But I saw another question. How can I translate this:
"Я достал/получил машину только что" into English in meaning of “I received” if this “I received” has finished right now?
Is it like this:
I have had gotten a car
??????

Originally Posted by ekaterinak

Thank you very much. Everything what refer to “I have a car” and “ I have got a car” found their places in my mind.

But I saw another question. How can I translate this:
"Я достал/получил машину только что" into English in meaning of “I received” if this “I received” has finished right now?
Is it like this:
I have had gotten a car
??????

I just got a (new) car.

Я получил <--> I got
У меня <--> I've got

The past perfect is I had gotten. "After I had gotten the car I drove home." You would only use this form with "before" or "after".

Here's a very good page on English verb tenses if you want to review how they are used:
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentperfect.html

For cars it is possible to say "I just picked up a new car." We sometimes use "picked up" when we buy something.

Originally Posted by paulb

Originally Posted by ekaterinak

Thank you very much. Everything what refer to “I have a car” and “ I have got a car” found their places in my mind.

But I saw another question. How can I translate this:
"Я достал/получил машину только что" into English in meaning of “I received” if this “I received” has finished right now?
Is it like this:
I have had gotten a car
??????

I just got a (new) car.

Я получил <--> I got
У меня <--> I've got

The past perfect is I had gotten. "After I had gotten the car I drove home." You would only use this form with "before" or "after".

Here's a very good page on English verb tenses if you want to review how they are used:
http://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentperfect.html

For cars it is possible to say "I just picked up a new car." We sometimes use "picked up" when we buy something.

Thank you very much