Got

Pronunciation

• RP IPA: /É¡É’t/
• GenAm IPA: /É¡É‘t/
• Boston IPA: /É¡ÊŒt/, /É¡É’t/
• Rhymes: -É’t

Verb

1. got

   (simple past of get)
   We got the last bus home.
2. (British, NZ) Past participle of getBy that time we'd got very cold.I've got two children.How many children have you got?
3. Expressing obligation.I can't go out tonight, I've got to study for my exams.
4. (Southern US, with to) must; have (to).I got to go study.
• 1971, Carol King and Gerry Goffin, “Smackwater Jack”, Tapestry, Ode RecordsWe got to ride to clean up the streets
  For our wives and our daughters!
5. (Southern US, UK, slang) haveThey got a new car.He got a lot of nerve.

Usage notes

(past participle of get) The second sentence literally means "At some time in the past I got (obtained) two children", but in "have got" constructions like this, where "got" is used in the sense of "obtained", the sense of obtaining is lost, becoming merely one of possessing, and the sentence is in effect just a more colloquial way of saying "I have two children". Similarly, the third sentence is just a more colloquial way of saying "How many children do you have?"

(past participle of get) The American and archaic British usage of the verb conjugates as get-got-gotten or as get-got-got depending on the meaning (see Usage Notes on "get" for details), whereas the modern British usage of the verb has lost this distinction and conjugates as get-got-got in all cases.

(expressing obligation) "Got" is a filler word here with no obvious grammatical or semantic function. "I have to study for my exams" has the same meaning. It is often stressed in speech: "You've just got to see this."

Synonyms

• (must, have (to)) gotta (informal)

Anagrams

• tog