[British English?] " I've a headache. "
I wonder if British abbreviate "have" when used as possession, such as " I've a headache. " or " I've a pen. "

In our dictionaly it says
" I've---abbreviation of " I have ". It is generally used when "have" is an axuiliary verb. However, in UK " I've " is sometimes used when "have" is a possessive verb."

Could " I have a headache." be abbreviated as " I've a headache"?

Thank you!

Question

[British English?] " I've a headache. "
I wonder if British abbreviate "have" when used as possession, such as " I've a headache. " or " I've a pen. "

In our dictionaly it says 
" I've---abbreviation of " I have ". It is generally used when "have" is an axuiliary verb. However, in UK " I've " is sometimes used when "have" is a possessive verb."

Could " I have a headache." be abbreviated as " I've a headache"?

Thank you!

Answer

Yes it can be used that way and yes some people use it like that, I do. It actually used to be popular to use this contracted form. These days 'got' is used far too often with have and 've contractions. Good question!

Answers · 2

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