Study materials
Compare two sentences. In Ukrainian they sound almost identical, yet they involve different people.
I cut my hair.
I had my hair cut.
The second structure announces: my business, somebody else's hands. Ukrainian uses a reflexive verb for this; English has a structure of its own.
An order that cannot be changed
The pattern is short: the subject, then have or get, then the object, and only at the end the third form of the verb.
We had the roof repaired.
She got her car serviced.
The object stands before the participle, and that is where most mistakes happen. The sentence I had repaired the roof means something quite different: that I had repaired it myself, earlier.
The tense lives in the first word
Only have or get changes. The third form stays as it is, whatever tense is meant.
I have my suits cleaned every month.
We are having the kitchen painted this week.
You should have that tooth checked.
Have or get
The meaning is nearly the same; the difference is register and shade.
| Form | Shade |
|---|---|
| have something done | neutral, fits anywhere |
| get something done | more colloquial, often implies your own effort |
Get hints that you were involved: arranging, driving, chasing it up. So I got my visa renewed sounds slightly different from I had my visa renewed.
In orders and advice, get is the one used: Get your car fixed. With have the phrase would sound unnatural.
The same form for mishaps
Here is this structure's second life. If the event is unpleasant and happened against your will, the pattern stays the same.
She had her wallet stolen.
They had their flight cancelled.
There is no arranged service here, which puzzles learners at first. But the logic is unchanged: the action affects your thing, and somebody else performs it.
The meaning itself tells you which case it is. Wallets and flights do not belong at the hairdresser.
The mistakes everyone makes
The first is putting the object after the participle.
I had cut my hair. → I had my hair cut.
The second is taking the second form instead of the third.
We had the roof repair. → We had the roof repaired.
The third is describing a service in the active.
Yesterday I repaired my laptop at the service centre. → I had my laptop repaired at the service centre.
All three are caught by one question. Who actually performed the action? If it was not me, the object goes straight after have.
Try it right now
Think of three things other people have done for you in the past year: a haircut, a repair, a delivery, some paperwork.
Say them in English, then add one sentence about a mishap that happened without any involvement of yours.