Talking about "having something done" in English

Do you "cut your hair", or do you "have it cut"? In this lesson, you'll learn how to talk about actions that other people do for you. When we talk about these actions, we change the structure of the sentence by adding the verb "to have". In this quick lesson, you'll master an important part of speaking English correctly by learning to apply this rule, and by reviewing many example sentences. Intermediate and advanced ESL students will find this lesson very helpful. Test your understanding by taking the quiz at http://www.engvid.com/talking-about-having-something-done-in-english/

TRANSCRIPT

Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid. In this lesson, I'll show you an advanced way to improve your English. Let me start by asking you a few questions. Do you cut your own hair? Do you repair your own car? Do you fix your roof? If you're like most people, you probably do not do those things by yourself; you have someone else do those things for you. Right? So in English, when you have someone else perform an action for you, we express that in a different way, and that's what you're going to learn in this lesson. Okay? Let's have a look at the board.

Okay, so let's say that you do something by yourself. Okay? Then you would say, for example: "I paint the house every year." That's if you do it by yourself. If you... In the past, we would say: "I painted the house last year." In the future, you would say: "I will paint the house next year." Right? That's when you do the action. That's the normal way in which we construct an English sentence.

But what if you don't do it yourself? What if somebody else comes in and does it for you? Okay? You hire a painter, and he or she does the work for you. Then, in English, we have to express it in a different way. We have to express it like this. In the present, it would be: "I have the house painted every year." So what's special, there? This: "I have the house painted every year." Last year or in the past: "I had the house painted last year." Okay? See the difference, there? And when we're talking about the future: "I will have the house painted next year." Okay? Good.

Now, I know that sounds like a mouthful. That means it sounds like a lot of words, and it is a lot of words in the beginning until you understand how it's constructed, but just try to see the difference between: "I paint the house." and "I have the house painted.", between: "I painted the house." and "I had the house painted.", between: "I will paint the house." and "I will have the house painted." Okay? That's what you have to do when you are talking about something which someone else does for you; a service which someone else performs for you. Okay?

Let's look at a few more examples, and then you'll understand a little better. So let's say, for example, I don't cut my own hair, and I guess you don't cut your own hair either. So, how would you say that? Okay? If somebody else does it for you? You would say: "I have my hair cut every month." for example. In the past: "I had my hair cut." Sorry, it should be "last month". Okay. And: "I will have my hair cut next month." Okay? So we have present, past, future. So what was special, there? "I have my hair cut", "I had my hair cut", "I will have my hair cut". Okay? So that's the way we express it when a hairdresser or someone else, or a barber, is going to cut your hair, and not you.

Okay, next. Now, here we're going to talk about John. John is a rich guy, and he's also doing very well, he makes a lot of money, but he doesn't like to clean. So he doesn't clean his own apartment. He calls a maid in to clean his apartment. So, when we're talking about John, we say... We don't say: "John cleans his apartment", because he doesn't do it himself; someone else does it for him. Right? So we say: "John has his apartment cleaned every week." Okay. I said he's rich. Okay, he has the money. "John had his apartment cleaned last week." Or: "John will have his apartment cleaned next week." Same construction: "has his apartment cleaned", "had his apartment cleaned", "will have his apartment cleaned". Okay? Same concept in every single example.

Let's take one last example. So, let's say a hotel-right?-they have many floors, they have to wash their windows regularly. But they don't do it themselves; they hire a company to do that, a window-washing company. So we could say: "The hotel has its windows washed every year." Right? Last year, we're talking about the past: "The hotel had its windows washed last year." Here we go. And future: "The hotel will have its windows washed next year." Okay? All right.
tremendously. For more tips like that on improving your English quickly and effectively, subscribe to my YouTube channel so you can get regular videos. Okay? Thanks for watching. Bye for now.