when to use

03:12 Dec 10, 2008 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/grammar/le...

"We use the present perfect tense when we want to connect the present with the (recent) past in some way and this will appear as has had or have had in full forms or as 's had or 've had in contracted forms:

Have they had their breakfast yet? ~ They've had a glass of orange juice, but they haven't had anything to eat yet.

He was in a foul mood when he got back, but now that he's had a shower and a snooze, he's calmed down a bit.

Have you had a nice evening, Barbara? ~ I've had a rotten evening. I had an argument with Tom and I've had enough for one day.

Have you always had hay fever? ~ I've had it every summer since I was 13. "
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http://www.sabri.org/Have.htm

"(2) To Have as an auxiliary:

The verb “to have ”is also used as an auxiliary to help other verbs create the perfect tense, for example, “I have studied English for five years;” or “I have visited Vietnam.”

This does not pose a problem except when the main verb is the verb to have meaning to own or possess.
For example, “I have had my car for ten years.” Have here is the auxiliary and had is the main verb in the –en form.

Therefore, you ought to remember that the verb to have

functions both as a main verb meaning to own and as an auxiliary verb to help other verbs create the perfect tense. "
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This might help... (and yes, I agree that this should have gone to the english forum).

02:56 Dec 10, 2008 

Ask in the English forum. Choose source and target language as English while posting your question. This will make your question appear in the English language monolingual forum.