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Question

At work I told this to a colleague...When I woke up this morning, I have had a terrible headache.(I still have a headache) Or should I say...When I woke up this morning, I had a terrible headache.I woke up this morning with a terrible headache.Thank you.

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

mabadWhen I woke up this morning, I have had a terrible headache.

Oh my goodness! No.

You can't have a when-clause (or anything else that indicates a specific time) together with a present perfect tense. You want "since", not "when".

Since I woke up this morning I have had a terrible headache.

mabadWhen I woke up this morning, I had a terrible headache. I woke up this morning with a terrible headache.

Those sentences are fine. You can also use those.

CJ

Mabad · Answer

Thank you so much, CJ! After I said that, I knew it sounded wrong  and there must have been something wrong with my sentence. The thing is after I say something, I always think of my grammar e.g. If I made mistakes or what.

Clive · Answer

Since I woke up this morning, I have had a terrible headache. Sounds like you still have it.

These two sentences do not tell us that you still have it.
When I woke up this morning, I had a terrible headache.
I woke up this morning with a terrible headache.

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