Question

Atualizado em 1 dez 2019

jickoon

13 out 2016

Coreano

Inglês (EUA)
Vietnamita

Pergunta sobre Inglês (EUA)

[What brought you here? / What are you here for?]

When a person suddenly visited my house and i want to ask him/her the purpose of visit politely,

Are both sentences proper?
Or what are some better options to say it more naturally and accordingly?

Respostas

Ilikeplanets

13 out 2016

Resposta destacada

Inglês (EUA)

What brought you here sounds far more polite, definitely say that

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Ilikeplanets

13 out 2016

Inglês (EUA)

What brought you here sounds far more polite, definitely say that

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Ilikeplanets

13 out 2016

Inglês (EUA)

What are you here for is kind of a nice way to say go away, I wasn't expecting you

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jickoon

13 out 2016

Coreano

@Ilikeplanets: how about "why did you come here"?

is this also rude?

Ilikeplanets

13 out 2016

Inglês (EUA)

No, not rude but a little direct

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Ilikeplanets

13 out 2016

Inglês (EUA)

What brought you here is more general, why are you here sounds more like you're lookng for a justifiable reason

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jickoon

13 out 2016

Coreano

@Ilikeplanets: I think I got it. Thank you so much

persimmon

13 out 2016

Inglês (EUA)

I would use, "What brings you here?" (bring -> present tense)

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jickoon

13 out 2016

Coreano

oh,... Can you please give a bit of details?
What's the difference between using past and present tense in that sentence?

persimmon

13 out 2016

Inglês (EUA)

In casual conversation, most people use the present tense of "bring" because it implies something like: "WHY did you come here?"

However, the past tense implies: "What MADE you come here?"

Do you see the difference? If not, I can try to explain it a different way.

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jickoon

13 out 2016

Coreano

hmm, I don't see any difference😣

bring just sounds more colloquial to me.

persimmon

13 out 2016

Inglês (EUA)

"bring" implies the intention of coming, like the reason why you came.

"brought" implies that someone or some event influenced that person to come. It implies the literal meaning, "What (force/event/person) brought you here?"

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jickoon

13 out 2016

Coreano

@rxsa: thank you sooo much!

persimmon

13 out 2016

Inglês (EUA)

no problem; i hope it made sense? if you want, i can get some examples too

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jickoon

13 out 2016

Coreano

@rxsa: oh, really? that would be great! thank you!

persimmon

13 out 2016

Inglês (EUA)

BRINGS:
"What brings you here?"
"I came to pick up a package."

BROUGHT:
"What brought you here?"
"The storm is too heavy to go through, so I came here."

--

in "bring", you can see that the responder came out of their own will, with the intention of doing something.

However, the one with "brought" implies that a force/event (in this case, the storm) caused the person to come to that location.

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jickoon

13 out 2016

Coreano

@rxsa: oh, i finally got the message. clear now!😀

mianne

24 set 2019

Inglês (EUA)

you could use both, but I would say "May I ask why you are here?"

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mianne

24 set 2019

Inglês (EUA)

@jickoon "why did you come here" can sound rude

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[What brought you here? / What are you here for?]

When a person suddenly visited my house and i want to ask him/her the purpose of visit politely,

Are both sentences proper?
Or what are some better options to say it more naturally and accordingly?

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[What brought you here? / What are you here for?]When a person suddenly visited my house and i want to ask him/her the purpose of visit politely,Are both sentences proper?Or what are some better options to say it more naturally and accordingly? Veja uma tradução

What brought you here sounds far more polite, definitely say that

What brought you here sounds far more polite, definitely say that

What are you here for is kind of a nice way to say go away, I wasn't expecting you

No, not rude but a little direct

What brought you here is more general, why are you here sounds more like you're lookng for a justifiable reason

I would use, "What brings you here?" (bring -> present tense)

In casual conversation, most people use the present tense of "bring" because it implies something like: "WHY did you come here?"However, the past tense implies: "What MADE you come here?"Do you see the difference? If not, I can try to explain it a different way.

"bring" implies the intention of coming, like the reason why you came."brought" implies that someone or some event influenced that person to come. It implies the literal meaning, "What (force/event/person) brought you here?"

no problem; i hope it made sense? if you want, i can get some examples too

you could use both, but I would say "May I ask why you are here?"

@jickoon "why did you come here" can sound rude

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[What brought you here? / What are you here for?]

When a person suddenly visited my house and i want to ask him/her the purpose of visit politely,

Are both sentences proper?
Or what are some better options to say it more naturally and accordingly?

In casual conversation, most people use the present tense of "bring" because it implies something like: "WHY did you come here?"

However, the past tense implies: "What MADE you come here?"

Do you see the difference? If not, I can try to explain it a different way.

"bring" implies the intention of coming, like the reason why you came.

"brought" implies that someone or some event influenced that person to come. It implies the literal meaning, "What (force/event/person) brought you here?"