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Please help me with correct sentence construction.
And What is the exact meaning of below sentence if sentence construction is correct.

  • Why are you talking like mad? Have you ever fallen on your head or what?
  • Why are you talking like mad? Are you fallen on your head or what?
  • Why are you talking like mad? Did you ever fell on your head or what?
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    What exactly is your concern in these? You need to ask more than which one is right?, because we cannot address your problem unless we know what it is.
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Commented Jun 11, 2014 at 12:48
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    Why are you talking like you're crazy? Did you fall on your head or something? Or, Why are you talking so fast? Did you fall on your head or something?
    – J.R. ♦
    Commented Jun 11, 2014 at 12:50
  • What is the exact meaning of above sentence if Sentence construciton is currect.
    – user4084
    Commented Jun 11, 2014 at 13:05
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    "Talking like mad" basically means talking a great deal. "Like mad" means doing something with a great deal of intensity, running like mad, working like mad, and so on. "Like crazy" has the same meaning; you can talk like crazy, but that means that you're talking a great deal, not that you are talking like a crazy person. (By the way, AmE usually uses crazy, and BrE uses mad. Americans generally use "mad" to mean angry.)
    – BobRodes
    Commented Jun 12, 2014 at 5:05

2 Answers 2

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Short Answer: "Why are you talking crazy like that? Have you fallen on your head or something?" is the minimal change I would make to make this more grammatical/natural. (The metaphorical "question" is whether or not the person recently fell on their head because they are "talking nonsense".)

Longer Answer:

I'm guessing that "talking like mad... fall on your head?" is an idiom in the OP's native language, and while it may not be common to say that in OP's language, it's probably not "rare" either.

A literal translation, while it could be understood, is not used in native English. When someone is talking nutty/upset/angry/irrationally, we don't figuratively/rhetorically accuse them of having fallen on their head. In fact, "Have you fallen on your head or something?" could likely be very insulting.

My concern is that giving you some type of "corresponding phrase" would likely be incorrect since the American culture doesn't have any standard catch phrase to be used in this situation. I think the issue here is not language difference by culture difference.

We might say things like "Come on now... you don't mean that" or if they are talking about doing something unethical perhaps "It's not worth it." It all depends if you have some particular scenario in mind. If you wanted a more confrontational tone perhaps, "Don't be stupid" or "Don't be an idiot" would be similar. But that might be much stronger and taken more insulting than a well known idiom from your native language.

In your culture, people understand you're saying something like, "You're too upset and what you're saying is not good. Listen to yourself and be rational." Perhaps that would be the closest parallel English sentence. Any time you are trying to translate an idiom, the easiest method is a straightforward expression of the meaning you are trying to convey. This may require you to think carefully about what your native language idiom really means including nuances and how they receive it.

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  • We (Americans) will sometimes use the term "talking crazy" to mean saying crazy things, but "talking like crazy" means talking a great deal.
    – BobRodes
    Commented Jun 12, 2014 at 5:08
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Let's just focus on the second half of each example. We'll consider them out of order.

Are you fallen on your head or what?

This is wrong, because the auxiliary verb for present perfect tense is have, not be. (Only in a few archaic circumstances is be ever used this way.)

Completing Are… with an adjective could work: Are you brain-damaged or what?

Did you ever fell on your head or what?

This is also wrong. Did is the conjugated verb. Therefore, fall should not be conjugated.

The use of or what is marginally acceptable. Did you… asks a yes/no question. Or what is asking someone to fill in the blank. Rather than or what? I suggest or something?, meaning "or something similar to falling on your head?"

The corrected version is: Did you ever fall on your head or something?

Have you ever fallen on your head or what?

Have you ever fallen on your head or something? is acceptable.

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