Have v Have got

Has/ have got = present perfect

Had=simple past

E.g. I had a pen (had=past simple verb)

She has got a pen (has got=present perfect verb)

Both past simple & present perfect can be used interchangeably, especially in forming questions. Observe:

She had money. [simple past statement]

Did she have money? [simple past question]

She has got money. > Has she got money? [present perfect]

Did she have money? [American] = Has she got money? [British]

So, apart from the grammatical difference [of the verb] between had (simple past) and has got (present perfect), it is the distinction between how the British and Americans use them in conversational English that confuses non-native speakers of English. 😂

has/have used in this sense (to denote a state/possession) is called a Stative verb/Non-action verb.

In British English, ‘have got’ is often used for the possessive sense of ‘have’ and ‘have got to’ is informally used for ‘have to’. This is much less common in American English.

Brit I’ve got two sisters. = US I have two sisters.

Brit I’ve got to go now. = US I have to go now.

This is only one [syntactical] difference between AmE & BrE. Should you be interested to uncover more, browse the topic Differences between British English and American English

Hope you learnt sth. Be happy and gay until next time!