Learn English – Did you have a holiday recently? vs Have you had a holiday recently

past-simplepresent-perfect

  1. Could you explain it's possible to use the Past Simple with key word "recently" or must always be the Present Perfect?

  2. I have two sentences. Is the first sentence wrong? If I use the Past Simple I can write "Did you have a holiday last time?", but not "Did you have a holiday recently?", is it?

Did you have a holiday recently?

vs

Have you had a holiday recently?

Thanks.

Best Answer

In my (British) English, both are pefectly good, and usable in exactly the same situations. The difference is in how the speaker is choosing to structure the temporal relationships: in the first they are choosing to treat "having a holiday" as an event complete in the past. In the second they are choosing to treat "having a holiday" as occupying a portion of the time stretching from whatever the limits of "recently" might be, up to the present.

I think this is the same for other Englishes, but I am not 100% sure.