20 Comments
In British English it's transitive unless it's reflexive. Does that make sense? You always wash something unless that thing is yourself, in which case you just wash. I also went with 'Have you washed yourself' which sounds unnatural in British English. 'Have you washed' sounds more natural, not sure if it would be accepted here though. The phrase 'to wash up' in UK refers only to washing dirty dishes!
947
'Have you washed?' is an accepted answer. I think we went with Have you washed yourself? as the main translation to be on the safe side. To me as a native speaker of Swedish, influenced by both British and American English, I agree with jairapetyan that the intransitive Have you washed? sounds incomplete, and with you that Have you washed up? only makes me think of doing the dishes. But I can see in Google's definition box that in the US, to wash up can mean 'clean one's hands and face', so I guess I should add that option.
I also think 'have you washed yourself' refers to your nether regions. At least where i'm from it usually does in this context.
two totally different sentences here, as far as the english translation goes. i'm from canada so ''have you washed up'' refers to hands and face, like washing hands before you eat. while '' have you washed yourself'' is more of bathing or showering. what exactly is the correct swedish meaning of this sentence?
- 748
I went with a safe "Have you washed yourself," even if it's a bit uncommon in English. Has anybody tried putting in "Have you washed up?"
The accepted answers are either Have you washed yourself? or Have you washed?. I’ll leave it to the others whether washed up should be accepted as well.
I don't ask the generic "have you washed yourself up?" very often. I tend to ask something more specific-sounding, but that has the same meaning, like "have you bathed?" or "have you showered?" Otherwise, I'd ask "have you cleaned (yourself) up?" to mean something like "have you washed your face in the sink?" rather than a full-on shower or bath.
Surprisingly complicated.
- 748
PS: At least in the USA "to wash" is mainly used as a transitive verb, so we wouldn't just ask,"Have you washed?" because the sentence lacks the specification of what is being washed. Maybe in the UK it is more commonly used in its intransitive meaning. Hopefully others will comment.
I'll submit that at least in the part of the Midwest U.S. where I'm from, yes, 'wash up' is very common, but it's not something I'd say around polite company, just family and friends. For example, 'I'm gonna go wash up and then I'll be back' means I'm going to the restroom or bathroom to wash my hands and maybe my face. It would not mean bathing or showering.
'Wash up' works for doing the dishes too, though 'clean up' works just as well.
We really don't say 'I haven't washed' or 'Have you washed?' around here. 'Wash yourself' or 'wash myself' is at least common and would be understood as the action of washing hands and maybe the face.
And yes, I think washed up should be accepted. :)
- 748
Wash up is a phrasal verb common both in the USA and UK. Here is some information on it: http://esl.about.com/od/phrasal-verb-intermediate/a/Phrasal-Verbs-With-Up.htm And more specifically: http://www.skypeenglishclasses.com/verb/wash-up-phrasal-verb/ Note that the second meaning given here is more literal. The third is more uncommon.
- 323
Just to clarify: it’s common both in the US and UK, but with different meanings. Your links describe the North American meaning (“wash your hands/face”) only. As other comments say, in the UK (+ Australia, NZ, etc) it has the quite different meaning “wash the dishes”.
- 748
I think we could say 'wash up' meaning the dishes... but if it's the whole kitchen that needs tidying we'd say 'clean up.' In all fairness I don't think we say either 'wash yourself' or 'wash up.' I would ask, 'Have you washed your hands?' or, 'Have you taken a shower?' or even 'Did you wash your hands?' 'Did you take a bath?'
- 388
And then there's "His body washed up on shore an hour ago," but I'm sure that's completly different word in Swedish. How would it be said?
