I don't have... vs I haven't... (A2-B1)
My company hasn't any competitors. Are you making the same mistake?
Look at how we make negatives in the Present Simple in English:
| Subject | Auxiliary verb | Main verb | Rest of the sentence |
| I | don't | work | at weekends. |
| You | don't | have to | sign in at reception. |
| My company | doesn't | export | its products outside of Europe. |
| We | don't | agree | with this decision. |
| They | don't | accept | payment by cheque anymore. |
When we have a verb in a sentence, for example, work, have to and export, we make a negative using don't or doesn't in the Present Simple.
The word 'have' is also a verb, so we make negatives in exactly the same way:
| Subject | Auxiliary verb | Main verb | Rest of the sentence |
| I | don't | have | a company car. |
| You | don't | have | any brothers or sisters, do you? |
| My company | doesn't | have | any competitors. |
| We | don't | have | enough time to talk about this at the moment. |
| They | don't | have | any parking facilities. |
We don't say:
I haven't a company car.
You haven't any brothers or sisters.
My company hasn't any competitors.
We haven't enough time to talk about this at the moment.
They haven't any parking facilities.
Here is when we can use haven't or hasn't in English:
The Present Perfect Simple
| Subject | Auxiliary verb | Main verb (Past Participle) | Rest of the sentence |
| I | haven't | had | a company car for the last five years. |
| You | haven't | worked | abroad, have you? |
| My company | hasn't | recruited | any new employees this year. |
| We | haven't | had | enough time to discuss this in detail. |
| They | haven't | made | a decision yet. |
Interested in learning more?
It's also possible to use the structure haven't / hasn't + got in the present. For example:
I haven't got a company car.
This is very common in spoken British English and using it will help your English to sound more natural when you're speaking.