To this day nobody knows what happened to him.

Question

To this day nobody knows what happened to him.

My dictionary says that 'to this day' means 'until now'. To me it suggests that nobody knows what has happened to him until this moment. Am I right?

Another question is that should it read 'To this day nobody knows what has happened to him' instead?

Thank you.

Best wishes,

PBF

BarbaraPA · Accepted Answer

"To this day" implies that a long time has passed. Whatever it was that happened, he's probably dead now.

"What has happened" sounds like something quite recent. He's still somewhere - but no one knows where. If this thing happened a hundred years ago, or more, stay with the simple past.

CalifJim · Answer

Excellent question, and a very interesting one.
Even though to this day means until now, it suggests a very long period of waiting until now.
Because of this, whatever happened probably happened a long time ago.
_________

Now note that with ago, you don't use the present perfect.
*It has happened a long time ago.
You use the simple past.
It happened a long time ago.
_________

So we have:
To this day (i.e., after a long period of trying to find out) nobody knows what happened to him (a long time ago).

Put differently, because of the presence of to this day, what happened is most likely no longer of current relevance.
_________

If you say:

To this day nobody knows what has happened to him.

you're claiming that what has happened still has current relevance. It implies that you (or someone) is still waiting, is still trying to find out what has happened. But that somewhat contradicts the meaning of to this day, which implies a longer period of time, after which it's less likely that there is still any current relevance to the situation. The contradiction, though slight and subtle, still makes the sentence seem a little strange to a native speaker.
_________

If you say (without to this day):

Nobody knows what has happened to him.

the implication of a long time is no longer present. The sentence seems now to apply to a situation in which, to invent an example, a group of people is waiting for him to appear at a lunch gathering, and wondering whether he got stuck in traffic. The lunch is ready, but he has not yet appeared. The other group members are beginning to worry. There is obviously current relevance in this case. In this scenario, you would never use to this day.

CJ

To this day nobody knows what happened to him.

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