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Suppose a child is accused of misbehaviour and the parent wants to know what the child has done. Would it be okay to ask the child: "what have you done?" or should they say "what did you do?". Is there a difference in nuance? Does "what have you done?" sound more accusatory?

anouk
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    Does this answer your question? [Difference between Present Perfect and Past Simple ( I am not a beginner )](https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/173685/difference-between-present-perfect-and-past-simple-i-am-not-a-beginner) Also [“Have you seen her?” or “Did you see her?”](https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/23275) and [“Have you done a poo?” vs. “Did you poo?”](https://ell.stackexchange.com/questions/239525), among others – FumbleFingers Jun 20 '21 at 16:25
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    The only reason you think ***What have you done**?* sounds more "accusatory" is because the ***Present Perfect*** form implies a strong connection to time of utterance. And very often the reason for asking such a question in the first place is because ***something is obviously wrong*** about the current situation (so speaker is asking for an explanation from whoever seems likely to have caused the problem). But since the same words are often used in *non-accusatory* contexts (again, where knowing about a *past* action is relevant to the present) it doesn't really have negative connotations. – FumbleFingers Jun 20 '21 at 16:35

1 Answers1

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What have you done?

does sound as an accusation in this situation. However, I don't think what did you do? is particularly better. If you want to avoid anguishing the child, you could say:

(Can you tell me) what happened?

or, showing more concern

(Can you tell me) what happened to you?

fev
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