''Did you go to school today?''
Do you say ''You go to school today?'' in casual conversations as the same meaning with the above?
My friend is not native English speaker, and she asks me about past things without ''did'' in the begining. I thought she should've say ''you went to school today?'' if it's without ''did'' in front.
I hope my question would make a sense.
Of, course it's perfectly correct to say "Did you go to school today?".
But you may sometimes hear questions like "You go to school today?". It's an elliptical construction.
In linguistics, ellipsis or an elliptical construction is the omission from a clause of one or more words that are nevertheless understood in the context of the remaining elements. (wikipedia.org) There are a few kinds of ellipsis, and if you are interested, you can read about them on Wikipedia.
And yes, such constructions are typical of spoken English.
Yes, you can, but as you say, only in casual conversations.
Jim: Hey John. You have that laptop you were going to sell me?
John: I dunno Jim. You have that money you were going to pay me for it?
It's common enough that I would practice using it with friends, until it sounds natural. Otherwise, it's always fine to start with "did".
