what have you had for dinner?

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

Hi,

What have you had for dinner?
vs.
What did you have for dinner?
vs.
What you had for dinner?

Which sentence is correct I wonder?

Thanks.

2

Hello. And Bye.

3

Help, anyone ? Thanks.

4

The first two are correct, but not the third.

5

Hi Beeesneees,

What’s the difference between the first two as in context?

Thanks a bunch ^

6

Not much at all really. They are largely interchangeable.

‘What did you have…’ can be used further from the event (eating dinner) than ‘what have you had…’ which needs to be asked reasonably soon after the meal.

7

My, a learner, view

Thanks

8

Did you read my last message above, E2?

9

I think that the “expiration time” for ´have had´ to transform into “did have” is exactly as soon as you have ingested the meal you had.:slight_smile:
That´s where the grammar connects to the peristalsis! Is it right?:slight_smile:

10

No, it’s not that immediate., especially if a time reference is given (eg. What have you had for dinner today?)

11

Got it. Thanks !

12

What did you have for dinner? Is more common because it is shorter.

What have you had for dinner? is stronger and sometimes used to ask if if someone is taking care of them self.

13

Hi,

This question concerns the fundamental difference between the past simple and the prsent perfect. This has nothing to do with one being ‘more common’ or ‘stronger’ than the other. What did you have? relates to a time in the past not related to now and can be overtly stated by mentioning that time with for example an adverb or simply hinting at a past time. What have you had? links the past to now by referring to a past time but connecting that to what you are saying/writing now.

Alan

14

Hi Alan,

“links the past to now by referring to a past time but ‘connecting’ that to what you are saying/writing now.”

I have a question regarding your explanation above. For those of us who don’t use English as our primary language, at times, it’s pretty hard to differentiate the usage of the simple past and the present perfect. The word ‘connecting’ is quite vague to me whenever I read about it in some grammar book explaining about the present perfect tense.

We are told to use the simple past when we are referring to the past.
However, we are told to use the present perfect when we are talking about an event which happened in the past but has some connection to what we are saying/writing now.

Let me give a similar example to my initial question:

What have you seen?
vs.
What did you see?

Sometimes, as a non-native speaker, I really am confused as to which to use.
Maybe we need some sort of context to really understand the subtle differences of these tenses.

Thanks a lot. )

15

Hi Rickyrocky,

I appreciate that it is difficult to distinguish one from another. Let me start with another example. Imagine that the police are looking for someone in connection with a crime. They would put a picture of the man on a notice board and the words would be:

Have you seen this man? The question is not about ‘when’ but about ‘seeing’ and whether anyone has seen the man in a period from some time in the past up till now - in other words ‘so far’.

The police could also put a picture of the man and ask this question: Did you see this man on Friday January 1st between 10 pm and 11.30 pm? The question this time is about when.

Hope this small example helps a bit.

Alan

16

YEP!

Thanks

…and whether anyone has seen the man in a period since (from) some time in the past. (up till now - in other words ‘so far’.) (wink, smile)

17

Yup, it helps. Thanks!