Which one is correct, "did you know him personally" or "do you know him personally"?
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Irfan Hussain, writer, reader, and the so called "angrezi pandit"
Answered Sep 7, 2015
The former is past tense and the later is present. The later can also be used for future tense.
Past: The guy you were talking to 2 mins ago, did you know him personally?
Present: The guy you are texting right now, do you know him personally?
Future: The guy whom you are gonna meet tomorrow, do you know him personally?
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David Wittenberg, Author and blogger. Scored 795/800 on the CLEP English exam.
Answered Oct 20, 2016
Both statements are grammatically correct. They have different meanings. Your question shows that you do not understand the two meanings. This answer should help you to understand the grammatical point in question: auxiliary verbs.
When we form questions, we use an auxiliary (helping) verb, and we change the auxiliary verb to indicate the present and past tense. (The future is indicated by a different auxiliary, “will.”) This can be confusing to English learners because in many other languages, only the main verb changes (there may not even be an auxiliary verb). Even in English, when we are making a statement (indicative mood), only the main verb changes. However, in English, when we are asking a question (interrogative mood), we add an auxiliary verb, and we change it to indicate the tense.
Compare:
Indicative mood (statements): You knew him. You know him. You will know him. The main verb, to know, changes to show the past and present. The future is formed by adding “will.”
Interrogative mood (questions): Did you know him? Do you know him? Will you know him? The auxiliary (helping) verb, to do, changes to show the past and present. In the future, will is used instead of do.
So, “Did you know him?” is the correct way to ask about someone’s past acquaintance with “him,” and “Do you know him?” is the correct way to ask about someone’s present acquaintance with “him.” Please be very careful when using this specific question because, since acquaintance usually continues while both individuals are alive, the question, “Did you know him?” is most often asked after “he” has died!
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Ken Ward, former Autodidact
Answered Sep 19
Which one is correct, "did you know him personally" or "do you know him personally"?
Both are grammatically correct.
"did you know him personally" suggest strongly a question about whether you used to know him (but don’t know him now.) ‘did’ is past tense.
"do you know him personally" asks whether you know him personally now.
‘do’ is present tense meaning a general truth. One that is true at the moment.
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Debbie Kean, I am a native speaker and a teacher
Answered Oct 20, 2016
Both are correct depending on the time factor. If you're talking about someone who isn't around any more, then you'd say "did you know him", but if you're talking about someone you presently know (as neighbour, colleague etc) then it's "do you know him".
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