Imagine you are at a café in the United States. The server
walks toward you and asks the following question:
Did you want cream for your coffee?
You might ask yourself how you should answer.
What is the server talking about?
Why did the server use a past tense
construction, "Did you want?"
Why did the server not say "Do you want cream for your
coffee?"
In today's Everyday Grammar, we will try to
solve a mystery: why do some Americans use the past tense when they are talking
about the present?
Simple Past
Tense
The simple past tense is used for actions or
situations that happened in the past. These actions or situations are finished.
For example, you might hear a person say,
"Did you have a good weekend?"
When they ask this question, they are using
the past tense construction, "Did you have…", and they are clearly
discussing a recent weekend that is now finished.
They might ask such a question when they see
you on Monday or Tuesday – when you are back at work or school, for example.
The traditional use of the simple past tense
is this: to note complete actions or situations in the past. This definition is
true most of the time in English conversation.
Simple Past
Tense with "want" and "need"
However, there are exceptions.
For example, in conversation, Americans often
use the simple past tense of the verbs want or need even though they are asking a
question about the present.
Let’s go back to the American café. You might
hear a conversation such as this:
Server: Did you want cream for your coffee?
Customer: No thanks!
Server: Did you need more water?
Customer: Yes, please!
In the conversation, the server uses the
simple past tense when asking questions.
It would be grammatically correct to say
"Do you want cream for
your coffee” or "Do you need more
water?"
So, why did the server use the simple past
tense instead of the present tense?
Culture and
Grammar
Susan Conrad and Douglas Biber are grammar
experts. They say that different cultures have different rules about politeness. In American culture, it is often
considered polite to speak indirectly.
One way some Americans speak indirectly,
Conrad and Biber say, is by using a past tense verb when asking about a present
desire. Americans do this by using the construction did + want and did + need.
Even close friends may use this polite form
with each other. When they are asking about what another person wants to do,
some Americans say, "Did you
want to go to the concert?" instead of "Do you
want to go to the concert?"
However, speakers do not answer such questions
in the simple past tense. The answer usually comes in the verb forms that you
would expect -- a simple present, present progressive or future tense verb, for
example.
Consider one of our example sentences:
"Did you want to go to the concert?"
The response to this question could be in the
simple present tense: "No, I don't want to."
Or the response could be in the present
progressive: "No, I'm watching a movie."
Or the answer could be in the future
tense: "Yes, I'll go to the concert."
You can read more about these
verb forms in previous Everyday
Grammar stories.
Past tense with
other verbs
We started this program with a question: why
do some Americans use the past tense when talking about the present?
We have discovered that Americans generally
only do this when asking about a present desire or preference – and usually only with the verbs want and need.
In general, Americans do not use the simple
past in this way when they are asking for information or using other verbs,
such as like, love, prefer,
and so on.
This lesson is not designed to give you yet
another grammar rule to remember. The point is to show you that native speakers
will use language in ways that do not always follow the grammatical definitions
that you may have learned about.
Today's lesson will be useful if you are ever
listening or speaking to an American. You might be able to ask polite
questions, or understand what Americans mean when they ask you a question.
Remember: we have talked about a grammatical
structure that you might hear or use in conversation. It does not follow the
traditional rules of grammar, so we do not advise that you use it on your next
English grammar test!
I'm Alice Bryant.
And I'm John Russell.
John Russell
wrote this story for Learning English. Caty Weaver was the editor.
We want to
hear from you. Write to us in the Comments Section.
*See Conrad
and Biber Real Grammar: A Corpus-Based
Approach to English. Pearson Education. 2009. Pgs. 1-3
_____________________________________________________________
Words in This Story
politeness – n. having or showing good manners or
respect for other people
concert – n. a public performance of music
preference – n. a feeling of liking or wanting one
person or thing more than another person or thing
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