3

I heard someone says

"You have me worried".

Is it same as "You made me worried"?

Any difference in nuance?

| improve this question | |
5

They are similar. They are both causative sentences. However, the first sentence uses the present tense. It will be interpreted as a stative meaning. It describes a situation. It means that I am worried now because of something you've said or done. The second sentence means that something you did in the past made me worried in the past. It has more of a dynamic feeling as opposed to a stative feeling. The second sentence does not say whether I'm still worried. I'm probably not, but I could be.

| improve this answer | |
  • The second sentence was made by me to see if the meaning is the same without noticing the difference in the tense I've made. But then I feel.. "You have me worried" is saying feeling right now and "You made me worried" is saying the same thing actually but focusing more on the point 'made worried'. If it was in present tense and "You make me worried" then it sounds like habitual thing so.. – karlalou Feb 3 '15 at 15:41
  • 1
    @karlalou Exactly so! :) If you look in the edits on my answer, you'll see that I put that point in my original version. I took it out because I thought it made my answer a bit long! :-) – Araucaria - Not here any more. Feb 3 '15 at 16:59
2

There's no real difference (aside from tense: "you have me worried" is present tense (I am worried about you, right now), and "you made me worried" is past tense (I was worried about you in the past)).

However, "have me worried" is unlikely to be what you heard -- the usual phrase is "you had me worried." For most speakers I know, the present-tense way to express that situation would be "I'm worried about you." (It's not impossible someone would have a quirky turn of phrase, but it would be uncommon.)

| improve this answer | |
  • The first one is by a 65-year old retired army man who was a pilot instructor and a pilot himself when he's younger. He was kind of dramatic all the time. – karlalou Feb 3 '15 at 15:40
  • 1
    It's possible he might have that turn of phrase, then, especially if he's in teaching-mode -- "Hey, you have me worried here; why aren't you looking at your instruments?" (Outside of teaching-mode, I'd want to be very careful of context.) – A.Beth Feb 3 '15 at 15:43

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service, privacy policy and cookie policy

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.