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What's this I hear about you getting married? https://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/american_english/this_1

"What is this?" and "I hear about you getting married" are simple sentences, but I don't know why these sentences can be so casually connected like this？

Does the sentence mean you are getting married （in the future） or you have already got married?

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  • Does it help if you think of it as "What is this thing that I hear about you getting married?"?
    – stangdon
    Jun 26 at 1:08
  • @stangdon That paraphrase does help. Thanks.
    – ForOU
    Jun 26 at 1:11

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It means, basically, that I heard some talk. It was about you getting married.

It says nothing about the time, because it does not specify what "I" heard, which could be that "you" got married two months ago, or that "you" were getting married in a month.

A more formally structured sentence might be

What's this that I hear about you getting married?

where "that I hear" and "about you getting married" both modifying the "this."

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  • Thank you, Mary. Follow up question, do these work: 1. What is this about you getting married that I hear. 2. What is this that I hear about your getting married?
    – ForOU
    Jun 26 at 1:17
  • The first, "you" is the object, modified by the "getting" clause. The second, the gerund "getting" is the object, modified by the "your." I think the second better.
    – Mary
    Jun 26 at 3:21
  • To make sure I understand you correctly, do you mean that just because "that I hear" and "about you getting married" both modify "this" doesn't mean they can swap positions freely as my (1) 1. What is this about you getting married/ that I hear.
    – ForOU
    Jun 26 at 4:06

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