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In the following sentence, isn’t the verb ‘have’ a general verb? Isn’t it correct to change like “Do you have any commissions for Egypt?”

“Have you any commissions for Egypt?”

Hyunju Kim
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    *have* here is used to imply "ownership, possession" as opposed to being a general-purpose "helper" auxiliary verb (I have* been to London, The rain has stopped, etc.). But although the phrasing as cited is "grammatical", it's increasingly seen as "old-fashioned" and/or excessively formal for most contexts. Children are still "taught" the usage (Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool?), but in practice they mostly just repeat what they hear others use in normal conversation: Do you have any...?* in BrE or *Have you got any...?* in AmE. – FumbleFingers Aug 18 '19 at 13:19
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    Possible duplicate of Use of "Have" in questions "Do you have" or "Have you" – FumbleFingers Aug 18 '19 at 13:21

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[1] Do you have any commissions for Egypt?

[2] Have you any commissions for Egypt?

No: when "have" expresses such meanings as possession or obligation it can be either a lexical verb (your 'general' verb) or an auxiliary verb.

Grammatically, in closed questions like these, lexical "have" requires the addition of the dummy auxiliary verb "do" as in [1], while auxiliary "have" in [2] does not.

Most speakers treat "have" as a lexical verb, or use the informal idiom "have got" as in "Have you got any ...", where the "have" component is an auxiliary verb.

BillJ
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