once again.
Can you say in English "are you finished"? If so, what´s the difference between "are you finished" and "have you finished"?
[Edited 5/8/07 12:37pm]

dag said:

I would reply "have you finished?"

are you finished is rather bad english. You are asking a question and have is asking whereas are is rather stating....

^^interesting...my post didn't go through the first time...hmmm.

blueblossom said:

thanks for the reply.

So you are saying that both are possible but "are you finished" is bad English.

And the other difference is that
"Are you finished" is a statement and
"have you finished" is a question?

Have I got it right?

"have you finished" refers to an action a person is performing, like "have you finished doing the laundry?" It means "Is the task finished?"

"are you finished" refers to a condition that the person is in. If someone was running out of energy I might ask "Are you finished?" Meaning "is the person finished" regardless of whether or not the task is finished.
[Edited 5/8/07 12:56pm]

dag said:

yes and rather eloquently if I may say so.

NDRU said:

Thanks a lot. I got it.

NDRU said:

I agree. That's the grammatically correct way to use the phrases. But "are you finished" is usually used the same way "have you finished" is used even though it isn't grammatically correct.

I can ask someone doing the laundry, "Are you finished?" Technically I should be asking "Have you finished?"... since the person doing the laundry isn't going to be finished... but it's the laundry that's going to be finished...

Also, "Are you finished?" is not as polite as "Have you finished?" in my opinion.

NDRU said:

perfect!

For me,
"are you finished?" is usually asked with a sense of "C'mon, be done with it already".


"Have you finished?" can usually be translated as "What?! You came already?"

coolcat said:

I'd agree with all of that

thanks, guys. I appreaciate your explanations!

dag said:

Hey, no prob.
That's what we're here for.

"have you" definately being more polite.

however the situation dictates. as a non native speaker i don't think anyone should give you a hard time regardless as the two are virtually interchangable.

if a waiter asked me "are you finished eating" it would be a bit abrupt but i wouldn't go

however if you said "have we arrived at the station yet?" it is a bit too formal when "are we at the station yet?" would suffice.

Illustrator said:

Interesting, so I can use "to be" instead of present perfect to sound informal.

emm said:

The difference is very small & subtle. You'll definitely get your message across saying either, and probably won't offend anyone (or end up on Engrish.com).

dag said:

A young boy is more likely to say the former when Michael Jackson stops moving his penis in their rectum.

Ace said: