Past simple without «did»

[Xanthos]

Hello!

I often hear in movies sentences like: «You told her?, You arrived?». First: is it possible, or am I wrong? Than: is it grammatical? Which is preferable?

Thanks a lot!

 

[Rover_KE]

It's not only possible to ask a question this way, with a rising inflexion of the voice but it's extremely common, and not only in English.

The French will say 'Tu as un chat?' for example. Does this not happen in Italian?

It's mostly a conversational structure as the tone of voice can't be shown in writing. This leads many students here to write 'I can say this?' instead of 'Can I say this?'

 

[Xanthos]

Thanks, I got it.

In Italian the only difference between the affermative and the interrogative phrases is the intonation («the rising inflexion of the voice»), we have not syntactic rules − apart from some normal positions of focus. (I hope it’s clear)

 

[Tdol]

(I hope it’s clear)

It is, but I would say we don't have syntactic rules.