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What have you bought vs. What did you buy

zaffy

zaffy

Senior Member
Polish
I come across a friend in a shopping mallwhile doing the shopping. We greet each other and I can see s/he is holding bags full of purchases. Nowwhat do I say?

What did you buy?
What have you bought?
 
    • I would say “What have you bought?”

    I don’t think there’s much difference between themreallyso it’s probably just a personal thing rather than a grammar point.
     
    Like suziI'd say "What have you bought?" :)

    But you could use eitherand I suspect AE speakers might well have a preference for "What did you buy?"
     
    zaffy said:
    I come across a friend in a shopping mallwhile doing the shopping. We greet each other and I can see s/he is holding bags full of purchases. Nowwhat do I say?

    What did you buy?
    What have you bought?
    Click to expand...
    They put the emphasis of different parts of the buying process.

    What did you buy? - What action did you take?
    What have you bought? - What are the articles in your bag?

    I can't see why anyone might see one question as intrinsically superior to the other here. It's simply a matter of what you wish to know. In the contextyou might be curious about either: you might prefer the first questionfor instancehad you been discussing the possible purchases earlierandafter allthe other person might not have found what she was seeking.

    The answer to the two questions will be relatedof course. But you might prefer to ask the first questionshould you wish to know more detail of what happened in the shops.
     
    AS a speaker of BEI could use either.

    I would be more likely to use "What did you buy?" if I'm assuming that she's finished shopping. I'd very likely use "What have you bought?" if I wanted her to show me her purchases.
     
    And what if this person (say a husband) comes back homehis wife is backing a cake and she desperately needs milk that he was supposed to buy. She welcomes him saying:

    Did you buy milk?
    Have you bought milk?
     
    zaffy said:
    And what if this person (say a husband) comes back homehis wife is backing a cake and she desperately needs milk that he was supposed to buy. She welcomes him saying:

    Did you buy milk?
    Have you bought milk?
    Click to expand...
    I could use either tense there. But it sounds incomplete to me (BrE) without a partitive. As he was supposed to buy some milkI would use "some"not "any": "Did you buy some milk?"/"Have you bought some milk?"
     
    Yesit sounds incomplete to me too. I'd use the definite article because it's the specific milk she asked him to bring home.

    I think I'd use:
    Did you buy the milk? (My first choice)
    Have you brought the milk?

    Note: Baking a cake
     
    Thanks a lot for your speedy replies. I can see it might really hard to differentiate between these two tenses for actions happening about nowwhere foreign learners of English are inclined to use Present Perfect as this tense combines the past and the present.

    Anywaywhat about this: before going shoppingthe husband gets anxious looking for the car keyshe's checked a few places but still can't find them. Finally he addresses his wife saying:

    Did you see the car keys?
    Have you seen the car keys?
     
    zaffy said:
    Thanks a lot for your speedy replies. I can see it might really hard to differentiate between these two tenses for actions happening about nowwhere foreign learners of English are inclined to use Present Perfect as this tense combines the past and the present.

    Anywaywhat about this: before going shoppingthe husband gets anxious looking for the car keyshe's checked a few places but still can't find them. Finally he addresses his wife saying:

    Did you see the car keys?
    Have you seen the car keys?
    Click to expand...
    I would use the second one. "Did you see ...?" would refer to a specificclosedpast period. That's not the situation here: the husband is asking about a period extending up to now.
     
    Thomas Tompion said:
    They put the emphasis of different parts of the buying process.
    What did you buy? - What action did you take?
    Click to expand...
    ThomasI don't understand this point. This question "What action did you take?" is answered in the first question.
    What action did you take? - buying
     
    Ivan_I said:
    ThomasI don't understand this point. This question "What action did you take?" is answered in the first question.
    What action did you take? - buying
    Click to expand...
    What did you buy? is a question we'd be more likely to ask if we knew the person had gone off with a view to buying certain specified things.
    What have you bought bought is the question you'd ask if you met them as describedcasuallyand saw they had things in their shopping bag.

    The first question suggests prior knowledge that the person was going shopping.
     
    Last edited:
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