Had Meaning
/hæd/Definition, CEFR level A1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
Listen pronunciation
Definition
verbsimple past and past participle of have
verbUsed to form the past perfect tense, expressing an action that took place prior to a reference point that is itself in the past.
Sentence Examples
I am not an artist. I never had the knack for it.
Ms. Eichler had a notorious reputation for being austere to her students.
The baby had been abandoned by its mother.
CEFR Practice Quiz
After eating too much ice cream, the boy ____ a stomachache.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I ____ already finished my homework before the party actually started.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English hadde (preterite), yhad (past participle), from Old English hæfde (first and third person singular preterite), ġehæfd (past participle), from Proto-Germanic *habdaz, past and past participle stem of *habjaną (“to have”), equivalent to have + -ed. Cognate with Dutch had, German hatte, Swedish hade, Icelandic hafði.
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"About thirty years ago, Miss Maria Ward, of Huntingdon, with only seven thousand pounds, had the good luck to captivate Sir Thomas Bertram, of Mansfield Park, in the county of Northampton,[…]."
— 1814 May 9, [Jane Austen], chapter I, in Mansfield Park: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 1:
"Cooper seems an odd choice, but imagine if they had taken MTV's advice and chosen Robert Pattinson?"
— 2011 April 15, Ben Cooper, The Guardian, London:
"To holde myne honde, by God, I had grete payne; / For forthwyth there I had him slayne, / But that I drede mordre wolde come oute[…]."
— 1499, John Skelton, The Bowge of Courte:
"Julius Cæsar had escaped death, if going to the Senate-house, that day wherein he was murthered by the Conspirators, he had read a memorial which was presented unto him."
— 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 4, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:
"If all was good and fair we met, / This earth had been the Paradise / It never look’d to human eyes / Since our first Sun arose and set."
— 1849, Alfred, Lord Tennyson, In Memoriam, section 24:
Explore More A1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
After eating too much ice cream, the boy ____ a stomachache.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
I ____ already finished my homework before the party actually started.