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See this sentence "I have some hobbies".

In the dictionary, the word "have" has many meanings. One of its meanings is

have something: to experience something

I went to a few parties and had a good time.

I was having difficulty in staying awake.

She'll have an accident one day.

Does "have" in the sentence "I have some hobbies" mean "to experience something".

It is important because we can use continuous tenses with this meaning.

Eg, I am having a good time

Note: if "have" means own, then we can not use "continuous tenses" in this case.

Eg: It is wrong to say: I am having a car.

Can we say "I am having some hobbies"?

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    I am having a question about Indian English. Why are we wanting to talk in the present continuous tense all the time? In short, you might be able to say I am having some hobbies in Indian English, but it will be noticed and considered an error by all "mainstream" Anglophones.
    – FumbleFingers
    Aug 17, 2017 at 15:50
  • You might find this discussion about I'm loving it interesting. As some examples there show, the continuous isn't always incorrect in such constructions. But it's at least slightly unusual, which I'm sure would have been part of the reason for featuring it in McDonald's ad campaigns (to catch people's attention, not to make it sound "Indian").
    – FumbleFingers
    Aug 17, 2017 at 15:56
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    Compare "I have a hobby" to "I have a job". Your dictionary seems to consider this an example of the "own or posses" meaning of to have.
    – The Photon
    Aug 17, 2017 at 17:21
  • @FumbleFingers, when you have a job, don't you usually mean that you have had it for some time and expect to keep it for some time in the future? The Indian usage seems to be more consistent with other uses of present continuous than the American and British idiomatic usage.
    – The Photon
    Aug 17, 2017 at 17:25
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    I guess the difference is that to have already conveys an ongoing state without having to be put in a continuous tense.
    – The Photon
    Aug 17, 2017 at 17:31

1 Answer 1

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No, one does not experience a hobby.

I think the relevant definition for have a hobby is either

  1. to own, hold or possess something

or possibly

  1. used to show a particular relationship

although that's a bit of a stretch. In my experience, a hobby is often thought of as something that one possesses. Do keep in mind that possession is not necessarily exclusive.

Indeed, one of the examples under definition 1 is Have you got a job yet?, which is very closely analogous. As was mentioned in the comments, one can talk about having a job in the same sense as having a hobby.

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