Did you say
Hi,
“Did you say that you had five courses this semester?”
“Did you say that you have five courses this semester?” (I’m not sure if I remember it right.)
I’m talking about a semester that hasn’t started yet. However, I hear people use both the past and present tense after ‘did you say’.
Should I stick to ‘had’ or ‘have’ or is there only a slight difference that doesn’t matter?
Thank you.
Top answer
In the US these are used interchangeably. The "that" is omitted in casual speech.
- In the US these are used interchangeably.
- The "that" is omitted in casual speech.
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In the US these are used interchangeably. The "that" is omitted in casual speech.
0Ann225Should I stick to ‘had’ or ‘have’ or is there only a slight difference that doesn’t matter?
It doesn't matter. Like most people I talk to, I use 'had' in that situation. For a learner of English it's not a bad idea to get into the habit of using the matching tense (past) after 'said' ('did ...say?'), 'thought' ('did ... know?'), and 'knew' ('did ...
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