In this article the verbs „to have” and „to be” and their usage are examined from semantic and syntactic points of view. Both verbs are used as auxiliary verbs but only the verb „to have” can take a direct object. „To have” and „to be” can be also treated as auxiliary verbs of modality and the type of predicate determines the choice of these verbs. From the semantic point of view, these verbs (in some cases they can be interchangeable) can have a possessive, time, constancy and place meanings.