Hello,
Sentences:
s1 we had no problems
s2 we hadn’t any problems
Issues:
i1 I understand that s2 is correct. And I checked it in a grammar book
i2 but Why s2 is incorrect?
Thanks in advance
Hi Jon
Yes, your first sentence is correct and also natural (except for the missing capitalization and punctuation, that is. ;)).
Your second sentence may be technically correct, but it certainly would not sound very natural in American English. It would be better and more natural to say “We didn’t have any problems.”
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Yep. The first one is correct. But I’ve got a question for you, Yankee.
“We hadn’t any problems”- i suppose it’s correct in British English? or is it not?
what’s more, form “Do have” instead of “have got” is typical for AmericanEnglish, isn’t it ;)?
Hi Michauek
You’ll have to wait for a Brit to tell you whether or not the British would consider that a typical usage. To my American ears, it sounds archaic. I’m sure it is used occasionally in American English, but most likely it would only be used for some sort of very special effect.
In both American and British English you can use ‘have got’ instead of ‘have’ when the meaning is similar to ‘possess’.
‘Have got’ (with this meaning) is present tense rather than the present perfect:
- He has a Ferrari. = He’s got a Ferrari. = He has got a Ferrari.
- She has a secret. = She’s got a secret.
- I have three brothers. = I’ve got three brothers.
- Do you have any brothers? = Have you got any brothers?
- He doesn’t have any money. = He hasn’t got any money.
Those are standard usages.
Colloquial usage often differs.
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I’m not a Brit but I do know that “We didn’t have any problems” is more common and modern than “We hadn’t any problems” in British English. Now I guess it’s time to find somebody from Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada and CNN to tell us what they think about this question.[YSaerTTEW443543]
TOEIC listening, photographs: Queuing for propane gas[YSaerTTEW443543]
I was looking for it in my English-Grammar book and it says that, for instance, " I don’t have a brother" is typical for both AmEnglish and BrEnglish, but the big influence on it had AmEnglish and language development or whatever 
" I haven’t got a brother" was originally use, so maybe, as Amy said, it may sound archaic.
Hi Michauek
Please note that I did not say that ‘have got’ sounds archaic.
There were two different issues discussed in this thread:
-
the negation of ‘have’ without using do, does or did (which was what Jon asked about in the first question in this thread)
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the use of ‘have got’ as a synonym for ‘have’ (which was not part of the first question in the thread)
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Hi, Amy
I know of another way of saying that:
I ain got no problems :lol:
Hi Alex
As far as I know, ain as akin to have doesn’t exist. Maybe, I am off-beam :lol:
Hi Alex
I’ve heard ‘ain’t got’ … Is that what you meant?
And, yes, in colloquial language, the double negative pops up fairly often. It is not considered standard (as I’m sure you know). 
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Yeah, that’s exactly what I meant, but that “t” letter is not pronounced, is it? 
I even witnessed a triple negation: I don’t own no one of my family nothing by Marshal Bruce Mathers, aka Eminem
sorry for making confusion . I just misunderstood what did you write. 
thx for explanations
jon - to me the second sentence doesn’t sound right nor natural. However, if the books says it’s right, then i guess it might be. I would use the first one, “We had no problems”
(Torsten :I’m not a Brit but I do know that “We didn’t have any problems” is more common and modern than “We hadn’t any problems” in British English. Now I guess it’s time to find somebody from Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, Canada and CNN to tell us what they think about this question.)
I agree with you Torsten. I’m Australian and i would say “We didn’t have any problems” or even “There were no problems”.