Got finished / have got finished cleaning the house (2025)

Self-made sentences:

I have seen sentence like this in this forum:

1. I got finished cleaning the house yesterday.

Is this sentence grammatically correct as "got", "finished" and "cleaning" get placed together?

If the above sentence is correct, would you say this sentence:

2. I've got finished cleaning the house.

"I got finished cleaning the house yesterday" is grammatically correct, though its meaning is ambiguous. As it stands, it implies you started cleaning the house several days ago and only finished yesterday. But in a sentence such as "After I got finished cleaning the house yesterday, I fed the chickens," it would be more likely to mean that you started and finished cleaning the house yesterday.

"I've got finished cleaning the house" sounds odd to AE (though possibly not BE) ears. AE speakers would say "I've gotten finished cleaning the house," though "I've finished cleaning the house" would be more common.

Bevj said:

'I've got finished cleaning the house' sounds odd to me in BrE, not because of the got/gotten difference, but because I would simply way 'I've finished cleaning the house'.

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Parla said:

The "got" is totally unnecessary in both #1 and #2.

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Does "got" carry a sense of "putting an effort into the doing" in sentence #1?

Sentence #2 seems clumsy as Bevj points out above, therefore "got" is unnecessary.

Florentia52 said:

No, I don't think "got" conveys any particular sense of putting effort into doing something, in your sentence. I think the sentence has the same meaning, with or without "got."

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So "got" is actually redundant? Would people use "got finished..."?

Florentia52 said:

Yes, it is redundant. But people do use it.

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How would you feel when hearing the version with "got" and without "got"? Would you have a little subtle sense or feeling when hearing the redundant version with "got"?

sunyaer said:

Would you have a little subtle sense or feeling when hearing the redundant version with "got"?

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Yes. I would feel that the speaker needs to improve his/her natural English.

sdgraham said:

Yes. I would feel that the speaker needs to improve his/her natural English.

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Probably you are better educated than many native speakers?

sunyaer said:

Probably you are better educated than many native speakers?

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As are the vast majority of the native speakers who volunteer their efforts here.

Seriously, people are judged by the language they use and the way they speak. It should be no surprise that leaders in business, government and other areas normally are educated and speak what we tend to call "good English."

The problem for learners of our language is to choose the kind of English they wish to speak. Whom do they wish to emulate? I can guarantee you that if you talk like a semi-literate denizen of the underclass, you will not fare as well as you would by speaking good English.

A few rappers might be getting rich by using gutter language and utter nonsense, but that's a small minority of the population.

That might not sound egalitarian, but that's the way things are.

It's up to you, choose your path and be rewarded accordingly.

sdgraham said:

...

The problem for learners of our language is to choose the kind of English they wish to speak. Whom do they wish to emulate? I can guarantee you that if you talk like a semi-literate denizen of the underclass, you will not fare as well as you would by speaking good English.

...

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My goal is to know both the semi-literate level of English and the good English. Only by this way could I understand better how the language works, especially not as my native language while I have been trying to use it at a level close to a native one.