I don't konw or I didn't know

[Mike12345]

A You can't smoke here!

B Sorry, __________


A I didn't know. B I don't know.


Which one is correct? Thank you!:-D

 

[Rover_KE]

You're lucky this time, Mike. We normally expect students to make their own attempt first - giving a reason for their answer.

 

[Matthew Wai]

The speaker didn't know previously but already knows at the time of speaking.

 

[Tdol]

I'm having one of my rare 'Be kind to people' days.

How often do they occur? ;-)

 

[Matthew Wai]

I wouldn't use 'already' there.

It can be 'used to emphasize that a situation or problem exists'──quoted from http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/already?q=already

I'm having one of my rare 'Be kind to people' days.

It sounds as if you are mean to people in other days.

 

[teechar]

It sounds as if you are mean to people [STRIKE]in[/STRIKE] on other days.

.

 

[Matthew Wai]

http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/day?q=day
I found 'in those days' above, so I used 'in' in my post.

If you were using it in that way, the 'already' should have gone after the 'knows'

What do you think about the millions of examples of 'already knows' at https://www.google.com/webhp?source...&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q="already+knows"&start=90&*

 

[teechar]

http://www.oxfordlearnersdictionaries.com/definition/english/day?q=day
I found 'in those days' above, so I used 'in' in my post.

That's different. It refers to a period in the past, not to the individual days.

What do you think about the millions of examples of 'already knows' at https://www.google.com/webhp?source...&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q="already+knows"&start=90&*

Of course "already knows" works and is perfectly natural, but not in your sentence in post #5. I would use "but has just found out" instead.