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According to the book "Grammarway 4", in order to form a negative question, we have 2 patterns:

Full form: auxiliary + subject + not + verb
Short form: auxiliary + n't + subject + verb

I am struggling to construct the full form of this negative question:

- Let's go to see the new Brad Pitt film tonight!
- Haven't you already seen it?

Which position should already be put in?

  1. Have you not already seen it?
  2. Have you already not seen it?
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The second one is definitely wrong. I think the reason it doesn't work is because in this construction the "not" is modifying the "seen it" so you're asking if the person has done the action of "not see[ing] it" which, of course, isn't an action (it's the opposite of an action).

The first sentence is the correct one. I would advise you to use the contraction "haven't you" instead of "have you not". "Have you not already seen it?" is not incorrect, but its over-formality sounds like something you'd hear on a sci-fi show when the writers want to get across the fact that a robot or alien character is highly logical and doesn't understand out "earth humor".

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