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At least in American English it is common to say

  • Did you watch that movie?

When I would expect people to say

  • Have you watched that movie?

The later sounds correct to me because it's the experiential usage of the present perfect. So I was wondering if this is some kind of flexibility of the usage of tenses. How do you explain it?

Mari-Lou A
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Patrick
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1 Answers1

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Did you watch the movie last night on NBC at 9pm? (If you didn't, you missed it.)

If you recorded it, you might be asked:

Have you seen the movie broadcast last night on NBC at 9pm?

Have you seen the new movie with Brad Pitt? (whenever you rent the dvd or watch it on Netflix)

Cathy Gartaganis
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    I agree: "Did you watch ...?" = Did you watch a specific program on TV? "Have you watched ..." = Have you ever watched it sometime, somewhere? (Here I'm referring to BrE.) – TrevorD May 07 '16 at 11:38
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    Not just TV... Did you watch the eclipse? Have you ever watched one? (AmE, too.) – Oldbag May 07 '16 at 12:24