Question 1

How do I use "have something done" in the present perfect?

Accepted Answer

Use "have/has had" + object + past participle: "I have had my eyes tested" or "She has had her flat redecorated." The present perfect shows that the service has current relevance or happened recently. "I have had my hair cut" suggests the result is visible now. "Have you had your car serviced this year?" asks about a service within a current time period. The double "have" — "have had" — can look strange at first, but it follows a clear pattern: "have" (present perfect tense) + "had" (part of the structure). With "get," it becomes "have got": "I have got my phone repaired." Practise both forms for Cambridge B2 exams.

Question 2

What does "was having something done" mean?

Accepted Answer

"Was having something done" describes a service that was in progress at a specific moment in the past. "I was having my hair cut when you called" means the haircut was happening at that exact time — it was not finished yet. This is the past continuous form of the "have something done" structure. You can also use "get": "She was getting her nails done when the power went out." Use this form when you want to describe a service that was interrupted or happening in the background of another past event. It appears in Cambridge B2 reading texts where precise timing matters.

Question 3

Can "have something done" be used in the past perfect?

Accepted Answer

Yes — the past perfect form is "had had" + object + past participle. "We had had the roof repaired before the storm hit" means the repair was finished before the storm, so the house was protected. The double "had" looks unusual but is grammatically correct: the first "had" shows past perfect tense, and the second "had" is part of the "have something done" pattern. With "get," it becomes "had got": "She had got her visa renewed before the deadline." This form is useful for showing that a service was completed before another past event. Cambridge B2 First and C1 Advanced both test this tense combination.

Causative Tenses — Extended Exercises

Quick Rule

All 20 questions

Continue Practising

Causative Error Correction

Transformation Easy

Transformation Intermediate

-ed vs -ing Adjectives

Conditionals

Present Perfect