Grammar ~53 min of the core left

Order a service

After this lesson you can

I can say that I did not do something myself but paid someone to do it — a repair, a haircut, a delivery.

Start the lesson Core 53 min · steps: 6 · optional: +2

Declared core time. Two of the core blocks carry no figure at all, so the real lesson is longer than this sum.

Grammar

15 min

"I cut my hair", "I repaired the car", "we put in new windows" — in many languages such sentences don't show whether you did it with your own hands or paid somebody. English makes the difference. If the work was done by another person at your request — a repairman, a hairdresser, a courier — you say have + the thing + the third form.

The form: have — WHAT — the third form. This is the passive from B1 #13 with the customer added: My hair was cut — "somebody cut my hair" — turns into I had my hair cut — "I went to the hairdresser's". The order is strict: first have, then the thing, then the third form. The third form does not change; have shows the tense.

tense example in other words
Present Simple I have my hair cut every six weeks. A hairdresser cuts my hair every six weeks.
Present Continuous We're having the kitchen painted. Painters are painting our kitchen now.
Past Simple I had my car repaired last week. Last week I took my car to a garage.
Present Perfect I've just had my eyes tested. I've just been to the optician's.
going to We're going to have new windows put in. We've ordered new windows.
modal verb You should have the boiler checked every year. A specialist should check the boiler every year.

The thing can be replaced by a pronoun, and it goes in the same place: I had it cut, We had them delivered.

The negative and the question. have here is an ordinary main verb, as in have breakfast. So the negative and the question are made with do, does, did: I didn't have it cut, Did you have your car repaired?, Where do you have your hair cut?, How often do you have your windows cleaned? For the same reason had here is not shortened to 'd.

When it is used.

A service: a repair, a haircut, a delivery, cleaning. We had the sofa delivered on Saturday. — The sofa came on Saturday. We ordered it, and other people brought it.

Something bad that happened to you: They had their car stolen. — Somebody stole their car. She had her bag stolen on the train. Here nobody ordered anything: the form simply shows that a person suffered, not only a thing.

get instead of have — the same thing, only more conversational: I need to get my phone fixed. Where did you get your hair cut? In British speech get is very frequent, especially when the job is difficult to arrange or has been put off for a long time.

How to order a service. In a shop or on the phone these ready-made phrases will help:

I'd like to have this jacket cleaned, please. I want to leave my jacket at the dry cleaner's.
I need to get my watch repaired. My watch is broken, and I need someone to repair it.
How much does it cost to have a carpet cleaned? What is the price of cleaning a carpet?
How long will it take? How much time do you need?
When will it be ready? On what day can I collect it?

Compare. Three sentences made of the same words speak about three different things:

I cut my hair. I cut it myself, with scissors.
I had my hair cut. Somebody cut it — at the hairdresser's.
I had cut my hair. I cut it myself — before another event (Past Perfect, B1 #1).

Everything depends on the place of the third form: after the thing — a service, straight after had — the Past Perfect. And one more pair: My car was repaired — the car was repaired, and it doesn't matter who arranged it; I had my car repaired — I took it to be repaired.

get without a customer: "it happened to me". If the thing is the subject and get and the third form come straight after it, you get a conversational passive: My bike got stolen. — "Somebody stole my bike". This is the passive from B1 #13, only with got instead of was. People say it about something that happened unexpectedly, most often something unpleasant: Our flight got cancelled. He got hurt in a match. I got caught in the rain. The question and the negative are made with do: Did anyone get hurt? The parcel didn't get delivered. In writing and in the news people usually say was: The flight was cancelled.

I got my bike repaired. I took my bike to be repaired — someone did it for me, as a service.
My bike got stolen. Somebody stole my bike — it happened to me.

In the first sentence a thing comes after get — that is a service. In the second the thing has become the subject, and nobody ordered anything. The same bad event can be told with have too: I had my bike stolen means the same as My bike got stolen.

More examples:

I'm having my eyes tested tomorrow. Tomorrow I'm going to the optician's.
We had the whole flat cleaned before we moved out. Before we moved out, we paid for cleaning of the whole flat.
She has her nails done every two weeks. She goes to a nail salon every two weeks.
I've never had my photo taken by a professional. A professional photographer has never taken my photo.

Don't say this. ✗ I'd my hair cut yesterday → ✓ I had my hair cut yesterday. The main verb had is written and said in full.

Check yourself. You took your watch to a repair shop, and they repaired it: how do you say that? What does I had cut my hair mean? How do you ask a friend about the place where a hairdresser usually cuts their hair?

show the answers
I had my watch repaired / I got my watch repaired; I cut my hair myself, and it happened before another event in the past; Where do you have your hair cut? / Where do you get your hair cut?
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Common learner errors

written for your language
1

A simple verb instead of "paid someone"

I cut my hair yesterday about a visit to the hairdresser's means in English that you took the scissors yourself. You need I had my hair cut or I got my hair cut. Spanish me corté el pelo, Portuguese cortei o cabelo and Japanese kami o kitta are normal about the hairdresser's, so the difference is not felt. In English the structure carries it.

2

make or let instead of have

✗ I made my hair cut

✗ I let my hair cut

✓ I had my hair cut / I got my hair cut

French se faire couper les cheveux and Italian farsi tagliare i capelli use "make", German sich die Haare schneiden lassen and Dutch laten knippen use "let". But in English a service is ordered only with have or get.

3

The third form before the thing

✗ We're having painted the kitchen

✓ We're having the kitchen painted

In French faire repeindre la cuisine and Italian far dipingere la cucina the verb comes before the thing. And I had repaired my car is not "I took it to a garage" but "I had repaired it myself before another event" (Past Perfect). For a service the thing stands before the third form: I had my car repaired.

4

The base form instead of the third

✗ I had my car repair

✗ We're having the kitchen paint

✓ I had my car repaired

We're having the kitchen painted. French faire réparer, Italian far riparare and German reparieren lassen have the infinitive in this place, and it seems that have already shows the tense. But this is the passive part of the structure, and it needs the third form.

5

A question without do

✗ Had you your car repaired?

✓ Did you have your car repaired?

In the perfect and in Have you got…? have comes to the front by itself, and learners make the question the same way out of habit. Here have is a main verb, and its question is made with do.

Pronunciation

3 min

The main stress falls on the thing, not on the verb:

I had my hair cut. We're having the kitchen painted. I need to get my watch repaired.

The third form sounds quieter. That is what tells the structure apart from the Past Perfect by ear, where the stress is on the main verb: I'd cut my hair.

had in a service does not merge with the pronoun: I had /aɪ hæd/ or /aɪ həd/, but not /aɪd/. If you hear /aɪd/, it is the Past Perfect or would.

hairdresser's /ˈheədresəz/ — this is what British English calls the shop itself: I'm going to the hairdresser's.

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Text

5 min

This has been a busy week in our flat. We're having the kitchen painted, so everything from the kitchen is in the hall, and we're eating in the living room.

On Monday I had the washing machine repaired. A man came at nine, changed a small part and left after twenty minutes. It cost forty pounds — less than I had expected. On Wednesday I finally had my hair cut. I hadn't had it cut since the summer, and my neighbour had started to make jokes about it.

Next month we're going to have new windows put in. The old ones are very thin, and in winter the cold comes straight through them.

There is some bad news too. Our neighbours had their car stolen last week, right outside the house. Last year their bikes got stolen from the garden too. So we've decided to have a security camera installed above the front door. This morning I rang a local company.

— Hello, I'd like to have a security camera installed. When could you do it? — We could come on Friday morning. Would nine o'clock be all right? — Perfect. And could I get the old light over the door removed at the same time? — No problem. That'll be another fifteen pounds.

Reading aloud

Exercises

30 min

1. Use the words in brackets:

  1. I (my hair / cut) yesterday
  2. We (the kitchen / paint) at the moment, so we're eating in the living room
  3. How often do you (your car / service)?
  4. Next month we (new windows / put in) — we've already decided
  5. She (her bag / steal) on the train last week
  6. I've just (my eyes / test), and I need glasses
  7. You should (the boiler / check) every year
  8. Where did you (that jacket / clean)?
Show the answers
had my hair cut / got my hair cut; are having the kitchen painted / 're having the kitchen painted; have your car serviced / get your car serviced; are going to have new windows put in / 're going to have new windows put in; had her bag stolen; had my eyes tested; have the boiler checked / get the boiler checked; have that jacket cleaned / get that jacket cleaned

2. Rewrite:

  1. I repaired my bike last week.
  2. She cuts her hair every six weeks.
  3. We are painting the living room.
  4. They cleaned all the windows before the party.
  5. We're going to install a new shower.
  6. Have you repaired your watch yet?
Show the answers
I had my bike repaired last week / I got my bike repaired last week; She has her hair cut every six weeks / She gets her hair cut every six weeks; We are having the living room painted / We're having the living room painted / We're getting the living room painted; They had all the windows cleaned before the party / They got all the windows cleaned before the party; We're going to have a new shower installed / We are going to have a new shower installed / We're going to get a new shower installed; Have you had your watch repaired yet?

3. Make a question

  1. You had your hair cut. (where)
  2. They have their windows cleaned. (how often)
  3. She had her car repaired. (a yes/no question)
  4. You're having the kitchen painted. (when)
Show the answers
Where did you have your hair cut?; How often do they have their windows cleaned?; Did she have her car repaired?; When are you having the kitchen painted?

4. Error correction.

  1. I had my car repair last week.
  2. I made my hair cut yesterday.
  3. Had you your car repaired?
  4. We're having painted the kitchen this week.
  5. I'd my hair cut yesterday.
  6. How often do you have cleaned your windows?
Show the answers
I had my car repaired last week; I had my hair cut yesterday / I got my hair cut yesterday; Did you have your car repaired?; We're having the kitchen painted this week / We are having the kitchen painted this week; I had my hair cut yesterday; How often do you have your windows cleaned?

5. Matching.

  1. I cut my hair.
  2. I had my hair cut.
  3. I had cut my hair.
  4. They had their car stolen.
Show the answers
`I cut my hair.` — I did it myself; `I had my hair cut.` — a hairdresser did it for me; `I had cut my hair.` — I did it myself before another event; `They had their car stolen.` — somebody stole their car

6. Rewrite in a conversational way:

  1. My phone was stolen on the bus.
  2. Our flight was cancelled because of the fog.
  3. Was anyone hurt in the accident?
Show the answers
My phone got stolen on the bus; Our flight got cancelled because of the fog; Did anyone get hurt in the accident?

7. Say it in English.

Each line describes a situation in simple words. Say it with the forms of this lesson. 1) Yesterday you went to the hairdresser's, and they cut your hair. 2) Painters are working in your kitchen right now. You and your family are paying them. 3) Ask a friend about the place where mechanics usually repair their car. 4) On the bus somebody stole your sister's phone. Start with "My sister". 5) You and your family plan to pay someone to put in a new door. 6) Ask about the price: you want a specialist to clean a carpet.

Show the answers
I had my hair cut yesterday / I got my hair cut yesterday; We're having the kitchen painted at the moment / We are having the kitchen painted now; Where do you have your car repaired? / Where do you get your car repaired?; My sister had her phone stolen on the bus / My sister's phone was stolen on the bus / My sister's phone got stolen on the bus; We're going to have a new door put in / We're going to have a new door fitted; How much does it cost to have a carpet cleaned? / How much does it cost to get a carpet cleaned?

8. Answer in full sentences

— about yourself. The answers below are an example. 1) Where do you usually have your hair cut? 2) When did you last have something repaired? 3) What would you like to have done in your flat or house?

Show the answers
I usually have it cut at a small hairdresser's near my office; I had my phone screen repaired last month; I'd like to have the bathroom painted and a new shower put in
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Summary

Covered: have + the thing + the third form in all tenses, the negative and the question with do, get as the conversational variant, the meaning of something bad that happened, phrases for ordering a service, the difference from the Past Perfect and from the simple passive; the get passive about what happened: My bike got stolen against I got my bike repaired. Next — lesson 15: report someone's words exactly.

End of the core

The lesson counts as done once the exercises are done. Everything after this is optional.

Lesson 87

optional

Vocabulary for your deck

17 words
  • hairdresser /ˈheədresə/ a person whose job is to cut and style hair
  • haircut /ˈheəkʌt/ when your hair is cut; the style of your hair after it
  • repair /rɪˈpeə/ to make something that is broken or damaged good again
  • fix /fɪks/ to make something that is broken work again
  • install /ɪnˈstɔːl/ to put a machine or a system in place so that it works
  • deliver /dɪˈlɪvə/ to bring things to someone's home or office
  • service /ˈsɜːvɪs/ to check a car or a machine (a boiler) and repair it if necessary
  • washing machine /ˈwɒʃɪŋ məˌʃiːn/ a machine that washes clothes
  • boiler /ˈbɔɪlə/ a machine that heats water and the rooms of a house
  • security camera /sɪˈkjʊərəti ˌkæmrə/ a camera that records who comes near a building
  • part /pɑːt/ one of the pieces that make a whole
  • hall /hɔːl/ the room just inside the front door of a flat or a house
  • put in /ˌpʊt ˈɪn/ to fit something new into a building (windows, a shower)
  • remove /rɪˈmuːv/ to take something away or off
  • nails /neɪlz/ the hard parts at the ends of your fingers and toes
  • neighbour /ˈneɪbə/ a person who lives next to you or near you
  • get hurt /ˌɡet ˈhɜːt/ to be injured

Writing

Five or six sentences about repairs or services: what was done for you recently, what is being done now, what you are going to order. At least one sentence with get, and one question with do or did.

Example

Last month we had the whole flat painted. It took a week, and it cost more than we had planned. At the moment we're having a new carpet laid in the bedroom. Next spring we're going to get the bathroom renovated. I also need to get my bike repaired — the back wheel is broken. Where do you usually have your bike repaired?

Checklist

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Practise this lesson in the other sections

Dictationbased on this lesson Write down what you hear. The check shows every word that differs, and how. Write the dictation Reading aloudbased on this lesson Read the lesson text aloud — speech recognition highlights the words it did not catch. Read the text aloud Reading and listeningA1–C1 Texts at every level with comprehension questions; the transcript opens after you answer. Try it

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