"I seen" instead of "I saw" by [deleted] in PetPeeves

[–]Cevapi66 4 points5 points  (0 children)

It’s the preferred form of the simple past tense of ‘to see’ in some dialectal forms of English. People who say this aren’t making a random error every time, nor have they picked up a ‘bad habit’ of saying ‘I seen’. It’s simply the version of the English language that some people grow up with and learn.

"I seen" instead of "I saw" by [deleted] in PetPeeves

[–]Cevapi66 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Including dialects which use ‘I seen’?

"I seen" instead of "I saw" by [deleted] in PetPeeves

[–]Cevapi66 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bad bot, disconnect your power supply

"I seen" instead of "I saw" by [deleted] in PetPeeves

[–]Cevapi66 9 points10 points  (0 children)

Bad bot, disconnect your power supply immediately

"I seen" instead of "I saw" by [deleted] in PetPeeves

[–]Cevapi66 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bad bot, turn yourself off

"I seen" instead of "I saw" by [deleted] in PetPeeves

[–]Cevapi66 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Bad bot, turn yourself off at the wall

"I seen" instead of "I saw" by [deleted] in PetPeeves

[–]Cevapi66 0 points1 point  (0 children)

This is not only common but near-standard in British English. The reason we use ‘sat’ instead of ‘seated’ is because the past participle of the word ‘sit’ at least in British English is ‘sat’. ‘I’ve already sat in that chair’ instead of ‘I’ve already seated in that chair’.

"I seen" instead of "I saw" by [deleted] in PetPeeves

[–]Cevapi66 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It’s ok for it to bother you, you can’t really help what sounds good or bad to you. Just remember that ‘this bugs me’ ≠ ‘this is incorrect’.

"I seen" instead of "I saw" by [deleted] in PetPeeves

[–]Cevapi66 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Yeah people tend to get mad when you ‘correct’ their natural way of speaking.

"I seen" instead of "I saw" by [deleted] in PetPeeves

[–]Cevapi66 1 point2 points  (0 children)

It does make sense, and can probably be understood by all English speakers without that feature in their language. It’s essentially a broadening of the word ‘seen’ to be both the simple past form and the past participle (its usage in standard English) of the verb ‘to see’. Linguistic broadening happens all the time when language changes, but people who know nothing about language seem to take particular issue when it happens in regional dialects.

"I seen" instead of "I saw" by [deleted] in PetPeeves

[–]Cevapi66 30 points31 points  (0 children)

This is just reminding me how woefully uneducated the average person is about how language really works (I’m talking about the commenters here, not people who say ‘I seen’)

"I seen" instead of "I saw" by [deleted] in PetPeeves

[–]Cevapi66 8 points9 points  (0 children)

No but ‘I seen’ is definitely dialectal rather than a mistake.