2

Have you watched any new movies?

Is this the correct way to ask? Or is it better to ask Saw any new movies?

Improve this question
4
  • 2
    You can certainly ask "Have you watched any new movies?", but rather than "Saw any new movies?", we'd typically phrase it as "[Have you] seen any good movies?". As I learned on this site, the intentional omission of words which are so predicable that your interlocutor can understand what was omitted simply from context is known as "conversational deletion". Anyway, I think you'd get better and easier to understand answers if you instead asked this (and any follow-up) answers on our sister site dedicated to people trying to learn English as a foreign language, English Language Learners.
    – Dan Bron
    Commented May 9, 2016 at 16:15
  • @DanBron thanks, I wanted to know which is the better usage? I have heard people using both. Are you saying saw any new movie? is wrong?
    – Ani Menon
    Commented May 9, 2016 at 16:19
  • 1
    To most native speakers, asking "Saw any good movies?" would mark you as a foreigner (which is to say it is unidiomatic: it's harder than you think to definitively state whether a particular utterance is "wrong" or not, and it gets harder the more you learn about English, as I'm discovering, so I am starting to shy from that label). As to which is better: they're simply options. Use whichever suits you, or whichever you hear more often from (native speaking) people around you. It's worth noting that watch connotes more engagement, is more active, than see (like listen vs hear).
    – Dan Bron
    Commented May 9, 2016 at 16:23
  • @DanBron Thanks for the answer. You could post it as answer.
    – Ani Menon
    Commented May 9, 2016 at 17:25

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
3

First, note that Saw any good movies is unidiomatic, if not wrong entirely—the question is have you seen, not have you saw.

I feel I most commonly hear [Have you] seen any good movies recently?

[Have you] watched any good movies is definitely acceptable and idiomatic, just somewhat less common in my experience.

Side note for reference, I'd expect:

Let's watch a movie [at home]
Let's go see a movie [in the theater]

Improve this answer
1
  • Thanks for the answer. Seen any new movies? looks like the best option.
    – Ani Menon
    Commented May 10, 2016 at 6:16

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .