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Question Which sentence sounds natural? ( Do you know / Did you know )

hirashin

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Hello, native english speakers,

Which sentence sounds natural?
(a) Do you know Lisa has come back from India?
(b) Did you know Lisa has come back from India?
(c) Do you know Lisa came back from India?
(d) Did you know Lisa came back from India?
(e) Do you know Lisa is back from India?
(f) Did you know Lisa is back from India?

Hirashin
 
I think (b), (d) and (f) are natural sounding.
 
Mdchachi, thanks for your ongoing help.

mdchachi said:
I think (b), (d) and (f) are natural sounding.
Click to expand...

Oh, you think so too. It seems the pattern "Do you know" does not sound natural in this case.
 
The "Did you know" options all imply that the speaker already has this information and is delivering it to the hearer. For the "Do you know" sentences, if you inserted an "if" in the right place, then the speaker would be asking the hearer for confirmation: "Do you know if Lisa has come back from India?" If that is your goal, then add "if" and choose the "Do" versions instead.
 
Thank you for your help, Timaki. Then you don't say "Do you know that Lisa is back [ has come back / came back ]", right? Japanese people, including me, tend to use this pattern.
 
hirashin said:
Then you don't say "Do you know that Lisa is back [ has come back / came back ]", right? Japanese people, including me, tend to use this pattern.
Click to expand...
It looks grammatically correct, but I would still use "Did" instead of "Do" in this case. Perhaps it has to do with Lisa returning before the conversation, that her return happened at some time in the past. "Do" gives the feeling of "right now," while "Did" has a more past-tense feeling.

By contrast, you can say, "Do you know that Lisa is here (right now)?" In this case, "Do" is better than "Did," although both are grammatically correct.
 
I agree with almost all Timaki has said, apart from the last part. I think I would use "Did" for any questions that were asking for confirmation of whether someone knew something or not. I would use "do" only for questions that were asking for the actual information, e.g "Do you know if Lisa is here? / Do you know where Lisa is?"
 
Last edited:
Thank you for the further information, Timaki and Michaels. The difference between "Did you" and "Do you" turned out to be a lot more complicated than I had thought.
 
No worries Hirashin. I'd never thought about it before. It just comes out so naturally, without thinking.

I found this online which is a good summary of the differences,

When to Use "Did You Know" Instead of "Do You Know" | Britannica Dictionary

The phrase "did you know" is used when you are asking someone if they know a fact, and you already know that fact. For example, you might say "Did you
www.learnersdictionary.com

Basically, "The main difference is that you use "did you know" when you already know the information that follows and you use "do you know" when you do not know the information that follows, but you want to know.
 
Michael2, thank you for the information and link. I'll try to use them correctly.
 
Then, how your teachers ask their students in class? I suppose they don't say, "Do you know how World War I broke out?"
How about this? "Does anyone know how World War I broke out?" No way?

Then how about these?
(a) Can you/anyone tell how World War I broke out?
(b) Will you/anyone tell how World War I broke out?
(c) Would you/anyone tell how World War I broke out?
(d) Could you/anyone tell how World War I broke out?
(e) Did you know how World War I broke out?
 
Almost there, not E though because you are not giving the information there. If you said "Did you know WW1 started in 1914?" it would be alright.
You should say "tell me" aswell Hirashin.
 
Michael2 said:
you use "do you know" when you do not know the information that follows, but you want to know.
Click to expand...
It follows Michael's rule. Yes it's true that the teacher probably knows the information they are asking about but they are asking as if they don't know.
 
mdchachi said:
It follows Michael's rule. Yes it's true that the teacher probably knows the information they are asking about but they are asking as if they don't know.
Click to expand...
Oh, I see. That settles it. Thanks, mdchachi.
 
The reason, I think, is that these are forms of embedded questions. If you said "I don't know where she lives. Do you know?", that would make sense. But if you said "She lives in Tokyo. Do you know that?", my response would be "Yes, you've just told me!", hence using "Did" for questions where the information is given.
It's a bit like reported speech, where even though something may be true now, it must have been true before you spoke, hence the past tense, e.g. "I said she lived in Tokyo".
You could even say "Yes, I knew that, " in response to "Did you know she lived in Tokyo now?" but it would be incredibly normal, although grammatically lazy, to say "Yeah, I know"
 
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