What is the difference between these two sentences, and when should I use them while talking?
He had same problem like my father.
and
He was having same problem like my father.
Please explain.
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1 Answer
Firstly: Both of them mean essentially the same thing. He had a problem, in the past. He does not have the problem now. The difference is in how the time of the problem relates to other time periods.
"Had" is called the simple past. He had a problem, then the problem went away. This is very neutral on things like how long the problem was there, or when the problem happened, compared to other things the speaker says next.
"Was having" is called the past continuous. Anything the speaker says next is likely to be about things that happened at the same time as the problem.
Secondly: Both of your example sentences should say "the same problem as", not "same problem like". "The same [X] as" is the standard English structure here. (I used it myself in the previous paragraph!)
