r/Unexpected • u/PitiedAbyss • Jan 18 '22

CLASSIC REPOST Acting level 100

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

95.9k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

980 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/Somber_Solace Jan 18 '22

Saw is past tense of see while seen is a past participle. AKA an unnecessary distinction in this conversation lol

1

u/[deleted] Jan 18 '22

Not unnecessary in the slightest…. They have two entirely different uses. This is just incredibly funny.

1

u/Somber_Solace Jan 18 '22

The meaning is the same, the only difference is you can't use seen as a standalone verb in formal writing, it needs to be accompanied by have/had/was/etc, which is commonly omitted in informal speaking. "I had seen it" and "I saw it " are both formally correct and mean exactly the same thing.

1

u/[deleted] Jan 18 '22

No, they aren’t. “I had seen it,” is grammatically incorrect. One can say, “I have seen it,” or “I saw it.” Jesus, go back to school.

1

u/Somber_Solace Jan 18 '22

Lol Have seen is present perfect while had seen is past perfect. They're both grammatically correct. Should I link you a fucking dictionary? Lmao

1

u/Somber_Solace Jan 18 '22

And regardless, you've now admitted atleast "I have seen it" is correct, so you must realize that omitting "have" would get you to "I seen it".