Wednesday, February 6, 2019

idioms - How had you known?


I caught this dialogue on TV:



A: Who was that guy you spoke at the parking lot with?


B: How'd you known?



The second sentence, as I understand, is a contraction of "How had you known?" It seems to me that Present Perfect should be used here—"How have you known?" because the situation is unfolding now.


I can see using "How'd you known?" in a dialogue like this: "– I didn't support him, because I knew he was a betrayer. – How'd you known?" But I can't justify using it in this dialogue: "– Bad news, the game was postponed. – How have you known?"



Answer




I am 99% certain that what you actually heard was:



How'd you know?



(Note know instead of known)


This is expanded to:



How did you know?



Which in the conversation carries the meaning of:




How did you find out that I spoke with someone in the parking lot?



Or something similar.


"How did you known" doesn't make sense in English, so I'm fairly certain it's not what was said, and I can't provide you with an explanation of its meaning.


No comments:

Post a Comment

Simple past, Present perfect Past perfect

Can you tell me which form of the following sentences is the correct one please? Imagine two friends discussing the gym... I was in a good s...