I had my haircut.

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
#1

Hello Mentors,

Is there any particular terminology for these sentences?

I had my hair cut. ( someone did the haircut for me )
I had my car washed in the car wash. ( someone washed my car )

I am confused about these sentences. Why other person did the actions and the speakers use the pronoun " I ".

Please help me.

Thanks,

Julius

#2

I think this is called “causative have” (i.e. causative use of “have”). The patterns are:

“have something done” (your two examples)
“have somebody do something” (e.g. “I had the barber cut my hair”)

See e.g. eslbase.com/grammar/causative

By the way, note that “I had my haircut” (“haircut” one word, as in your subject line) is not correct – or, at least, does not mean the same thing. Possibly that was just a typo.

#3

Oh Dozy, Thank you so much for your reply.

But I want to know about the compound one word “haircut”?
I was able to check it on google and it says that we have that kind of term. :wink:

Another thing:

Is the passive form important in causative have?

Thank you Dozy;0

Julius

#4

‘Haircut’ as one word is possible, but not in your sentence.
A haircut (noun) is equivalent to a hair style. In your sentence you are speaking about the cutting of your hair.

#5

Note also that “I had a haircut” is fine.

I’m not exactly sure what you mean by that. Ordinary passive form would be something like “My hair was cut”. “I had my hair cut” is a different pattern, and usually implies that the haircut was the subject’s own decision or volition, rather than something to which he or she was passively subjected.

However, in cases where the action is unlikely to be the subject’s own volition, there may be less difference. For example, “I had my licence taken away” and “My licence was taken away” are quite similar.

#6

Dozy,
I learned as below:
I had my car stolen yesterday. (wrong)
My car was stolen yesterday.(OK)
I had my house burgled. (wrong)
My house was burgled.(OK)
But in eslbase.com/grammar/causative
the following sentence was found:
“Bill had his money stolen.”
Is it right?

#7

Allthose examples are right.

#8

Hi Allifathima,

I think you missed the last part of Dozy’s explanation, where he as good as said that “I had my car stolen yesterday” and “my car was stolen yesterday” are similar.

:slight_smile:

#9

Hello Dozy and Beeesneees

Thank you for your help.

Here is an example of Passive Form.

The professor had the work done by his lab assistants.

Ex.
The professor had his students write an essay. I had him do it.

Passive voice: The professor had his students write an essay.
meaning I had him do it by my students.

Thank you in advance!

Julius

#10

I think this form may sometimes be called “causative passive”, but it is not the ordinary passive, which would be “the work was done (by the assistants)”.

I do not see any passive flavour in this one.

This one is ungrammatical.

#11

I have just realized that the last sentence is grammatically wrong. :wink:

Thank you so much again Dozy.

Julius

#12

Hello!

I am confused

I just want to know the Tense of this sentence.

I’d have my manicure one a week.

Thanks!

Julius

#13

I assume you meant “once a week”. As you probably know, “I’d” in this case is “I would”, not “I had”. Some people call this “habitual past” or “past habitual”:

dailywritingtips.com/9-forms … ast-tense/
yorkshiredialect.com/habitual.htm

#14

I see. If that is habitual past we can also use " used to" and " would always" like these:

I used to have my manicure once a week.

I would always have my manicure once a week.

Am I right?

Thanks!

Julius

#15

yes