How does it work the use of the past participle done instead of the past tense did? Where is this form used? Only in southern U.S.? How often?
Learn English – Using “done” instead of “did”
dialectspast-participlespast-tense
dialectspast-participlespast-tense
How does it work the use of the past participle done instead of the past tense did? Where is this form used? Only in southern U.S.? How often?
Best Answer
I'm from the U.S. In the South, 'done' can be used instead of 'did', just like 'seen' is sometimes used instead of 'saw'. Use of the past participle form in place of the past simple form is pretty common in the South. It is also common to use 'done' in place of 'had'. For example, we sometimes say: "I done told you that" instead of "I had told you that". It is grammatically incorrect in standard English but it is part of most Southern dialects. So I would not call that slang, but rather a dialect feature. Hope this helps.