Contractions: Had and Have

Lesson Plan - Get It!

Audio:

The word you read is a contraction.

Did you remember that a contraction is a word that is made up of two other words? If you haven't already, please visit the Contractions Related Lessons, found in the right-hand sidebar. Whenever you see a contraction, you will see an apostrophe (') in the word. For example, the word "I'm" has an apostrophe before the letter "m." The word "I'm" is a contraction that puts together the words "I" and "am."

Now, you will learn about some contractions that contain the words "had" and "have."

You can make contractions with the word "had." When you combine a word with had, you add an apostrophe, then a "d" to the end of the word. Anytime you add the word "had" to the end of a word, you drop the h and the a and keep the d. Check out the list of contractions that contain the word "had" listed below. Ask your parent or teacher to read you the list:

• He'd = He had
• She'd = She had
• They'd = They had
• We'd = We had

Practice reading sentences with contractions by reading the sentences below aloud to your parent or teacher:

He'd seen that show already.
He had seen that show already.

They'd set up the stand.
They had set up the stand.

Good job reading those sentences! Try reading the next sentence below. Tell your parent or teacher what the contraction is, and what two words make up that contraction:

We'd better get to school!

The contraction in the sentence you just read is we'd. If you break up the word "we'd," you will have the words "we" and "had."

Contractions can also contain the word "have." When you combine one word with the word "have," you need to add an apostrophe, then a v and an e. Ask your parent or teacher to read the examples below out loud to you:

• They've = They have
• We've = We have
• What've = What have
• Who've = Who have
• You've = You have

Read the examples below aloud to your parent or teacher:

They've been to this zoo before!
They have been to this zoo before!

We've got to eat all our vegetables.
We have got to eat all our vegetables.

Now that you're getting really good at this, try reading the next one on your own. Tell your parent or teacher what the contraction is, and what two words make up the contraction:

What've you eaten for lunch?

The contraction in the sentence is what've. This contraction is made up of the words "what" and "have."

You did a fantastic job learning about contractions that have the words "had" and "have" in them. Now, in the Got It? section, you will practice identifying contractions in sentences.