13

The OALD has the following note about get:

In spoken North American English the past participle got•ten /ˈɡɒtn/ /ˈɡɑːtn/ is almost always used.

I know that I have got a car just means I have a car. Excluding that case, do Canadians and Americans really use gotten as past participle when speaking? Does that mean they use got as past participle when writing, but gotten when speaking?

Notice that the OALD reports got as past tense, and past participle of get. This, and the sentence I previously shown makes me assume the dictionary is saying that gotten is used in spoken English from Canadians and Americans, while got is used from Canadians and Americans when writing.

I remember that an American friend of mine (born and raised in the East coast) told me I should write have got, not have gotten.

Improve this question
6
  • 2
    Aside: only 1/3 of entries in COCA are spoken.
    – Em1
    Commented Apr 2, 2013 at 21:20
  • 11
    Yes, we do. It sounds really weird to us when people from the U.K. say "have got" instead of "have gotten". And we don't use "have got" when we're writing, either. (There are some situations besides possession where you can use "have got" in AmE. For example, you have got to use it when it means "must". I also remember there was some other usage where both "have got" and "have gotten" sounded okay to me, but I have forgotten it.)
    – Peter Shor
    Commented Apr 2, 2013 at 21:20
  • 1
    Whoops. Only noticed after I posted an answer, but in the 'related' sidebar on this page it shows that you already asked this question back in January: ell.stackexchange.com/questions/822/gotten-versus-got?rq=1 So I'm going to close this as a duplicate now. If you feel it's not a duplicate and want it reopened please feel free to @ message me and we can sort it out. Thanks!
    – WendiKidd
    Commented Apr 2, 2013 at 21:25
  • @WendiKidd This is a different question. I am asking about a note found in a dictionary that leads me to think that have got is used in written North American English, while have gotten is used when speaking. The other question is not about spoken North American English.
    – avpaderno
    Commented Apr 2, 2013 at 21:39
  • 6
    Yes. In AE I have got, written or spoken, is present tense and means I possess, not I obtain.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented Apr 2, 2013 at 21:51

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
18

Yes, we do. You're correct that in British English have got is what's used, but at least in American English, we do say have gotten.

I've gotten 10 parking tickets already this year!

I have gotten almost no sleep since my baby was born.

In American English we use have gotten both when writing and when speaking. As Peter Shor notes, it sounds very odd to us to hear Brits say (or write) have got!

You might also be interested in this question on EL&U which asks about the difference between the two constructions and has some interesting answers.

Improve this answer
2
  • 11
    It's worth noting, I think, that most americans recognize this (often unconciously) as informal language and when writing or publicly speaking, will manuever around it to avoid both gotten (too informal) and got (to odd/stilted). So, ending up with sentences more like "I have received 10 parking tickets this year.", or "I have had almost no sleep since my baby was born.*"
    – RBarryYoung
    Commented Oct 1, 2014 at 21:03
  • 1
    It's important to note that we use both got and gotten to mean two different things. As WendiKidd observes, it would be normal for me to say, I've gotten ten parking tickets already this year, to mean I have received ten tickets. It would also be normal for me to say I've got two tickets for the theater tonight, to mean I possess two tickets. The emphasis in the latter sentence is that I have them in my possession, not that I received them.
    – EllieK
    Commented Aug 18, 2021 at 20:00
1

In AmE writing, almost any form you can imagine is used, depending on style, context, and whether it appears in a quote or not. In speaking, we might say "I got" for past, and "I have gotten" for the past participle, and we generally do not say "I have got" for the past participle. In AmE, "I have got" is indeed used as the present tense (yes, it's somewhat redundant, but at least it's usually contracted to "I've got").

Note that there is another use of this construction. If we were to talk about "getting tired," the past participle would definitely be "I've gotten tired," never "I've got tired," whether in speaking or writing. Admittedly, this is an unusual construction in AmE; we would usually say "I'm tired." (This usage applies to all adjectives in place of "tired," such as "old," "heavy," "exhausted," "drunk," and so on.)

Improve this answer
3
  • I wonder for what reason the downvote. The first paragraph says, in general, the same as the other answer. So, it can only be about the second paragraph. Now I'm interested in what is wrong because as a non-native I can't figure out.
    – Em1
    Commented Apr 3, 2013 at 7:15
  • I didn't down-vote, but I imagine the down-voter voted because the OP wrote, "and 'I have gotten' for the past participle"; that is not the past participle, but the present perfect of get.
    – avpaderno
    Commented Apr 3, 2013 at 8:33
  • 3
    The first sentence of your answer is confusing. You do explain things better later, but the downvoter might have only read one sentence.
    – Peter Shor
    Commented Apr 4, 2013 at 1:27
-2

The use of past tenses ending in -en can occur in British English, in some northern dialect.

Example: Pupil to teacher, about another students work

"Tommy's putten 'putten' where he should have putten 'put'"

Improve this answer
2
  • 1
    Which Northern Dialects are these? I've never heard it in Yorkshire, Cumbria, Lancashire, Manchester or Liverpool, which covers the majority! Somewhere in the deep, dark North-East I assume?
    – Jon Story
    Commented Dec 12, 2014 at 11:24
  • 1
    This is incorrect. They're not saying 'putten'; rather, it's an accented pronunciation of 'putting'. In the present tense, it's simply 'put'.
    – ArtOfCode
    Commented Mar 18, 2016 at 23:49

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .