Do/Did you?

Question

Hi, I have a question.Here's a situation, I wanna ask my friend whether he knows about something, how should I ask?1) Do you know he has a girlfriend?2) Did you know he has a girlfriend?Are they both correct? If they are both acceptable, is there any difference?Thank you.

Philip · Accepted Answer

Both are fine.

Hrsanei · Answer

Hi.

They are embeded questions. So you have to say;

Do you know if he has a girlfriend?

Did you know if he has a girlfriend?

In the first question, you don't know whether he has a girl friend or not, but in the second one it has become clear for you that he has a girl friend, and you are asking if the listener has been aware of this before.

Another subtle difference is that, in the first question, also the asker does not know if he has a girlfriend or not, but in the second question the asker might have known about this.

Let me know if you get confused, or if my explanation was not clear enough.

Regards

Regards · Answer

Hi,

Do you know [that] he has a girlfriend? Fine.

Did you know [that] he has a girlfriend? *Also: Did you know he had a girlfriend? Fine.

I know [that] he has a girlfriend.

I knew [that] he has a girlfriend. *Also: I knew he had a girlfriend.

That is commonly elided in all cases—hence all the questions are correct as they stand.

When you add this little if, the meaning becomes slightly different.

Regards

CalifJim · Answer

I ~~wanna~~ want to ask my friend whether he knows about something. How should I ask?

1) Do you know he has a girlfriend?

2) Did you know he has a girlfriend?

I would choose 2).

1) says to me: I know he has a girlfriend. (I don't believe you know.)

I'm telling you now that he has a girlfriend.

2) says to me: Have you heard that he has a girlfriend?

CJ

Littlefuryman · Answer

In the second option should it not be "Did you know he had a girlfriend?"

Do/Did you?

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