I got hung up on contractions this morning regarding the word “you’ve”. Normally, I’d say “you’ve got a problem”, which expands to “you have got a problem”, which isn’t wrong, but I normally wouldn’t say. Not contracting, I’d say “you have a problem”, so then should I just say “you’ve a problem”? That sounds weird in my head. Is this just a US English problem?
In the sentence “you have a problem”, “have” is the main verb. When reduced to the clitic “'ve”, it becomes a weak form and is only expected to be used as an auxiliary verb. These types of verbs must be followed by the main verb. “a” is not a verb. Thus, we insert “got”.
If we do not insert “got”, the stress in the sentence moves and it sounds overly affected.
I’m not too sure, but I think “be” (“is”, “are”) is the only verb that can be contracted and still remain a main verb. I’m not too sure why.
English is weird. It can be understood through tough thorough thought, though
You’ve mail!
I’ve a solution!
“You’ve a problem” actually still works, but it’s an older way of saying it
