How to use 'Have you' and 'Did you'?

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
1

Could I ask which one is correct. and How to use Have you and did you ?

  1. have u taken a shower yet ?
  2. Have you take a shower?
  3. Did you take a shower?

Thanks

Flora

2

Hi Flora

Your sentences were:

  1. Have you taken a shower yet ? correct (present perfect)
  2. Have you take a shower? wrong (If you change “take” to “taken”, then it would be grammatically correct.)
  3. Did you take a shower? correct (simple past tense)

First, I’d just like to mention that spelling the word you as u is only acceptable in extremely informal, “short form” English (e.g., in some internet chat rooms, SMS messages, etc)

Have you taken a shower yet ? --> In this question the person clearly expects that you have either recently taken a shower or that you will take a shower soon. The person isn’t interested in when, but rather whether you’ve taken a shower up til now.

Did you take a shower? This question could be similar, but is focused on the past.

Your sentences don’t have enough context to illustrate the difference between present perfect and the simple past tense.

Just as an example, let’s add “this morning” to sentence 3 and assume it’s now 2 o’clock in the afternoon:
Did you take a shower this morning?
Because the morning is finished, you are clearly talking about the finished past, and you have specifically asked about a finished time in the past. Using the present perfect would be wrong. You need the past tense because you are clearly talking about the finished past.

Amy

3

Another couple of tips:

  1. Don’t type a space before a question mark.

  2. Get out of the habit of writng “u” instead of “you”. People learn a lot of bad writing habits in chat rooms and e-mail, and this “u” is one of them. I have seen students have real trouble in their English writing because of these bad habits. They can suddenly appear on a writing test without the person even realizing he is writing that way. It’s better to write in your best English in all situations.

4

Dear Amy and Jamie

Thanks for help. your information is very useful and detailed and I will correct my mistake.

Big HUG

Flora