who did you say you were vs who are you

Both phrases are correct, but they are used in different contexts. 'Who did you say you were?' is used when someone has already mentioned their identity and the speaker is seeking confirmation. 'Who are you?' is a more direct question asking for the person's identity.

Last updated: March 12, 2024 • 1115 views

who did you say you were

This phrase is correct and commonly used when seeking confirmation of a previously mentioned identity.

This phrase is used when someone has already mentioned their identity, and the speaker is seeking confirmation or clarification.

Examples:

I'm John. - Who did you say you were?
She's my cousin. - Who did you say you were?
The new manager is Sarah. - Who did you say you were?

Show examples from the web [+]

Jan 3, 2015 ... Who did you say you were? Encounters with Charles Haughey. Stephen Collins, Joe Joyce, Peter Murtagh and Michael O'Regan on the late ...
Jan 20, 2015 ... It happened one day last weekend. My husband Bill and I were driving down our street after being out for an hour. Bill said, “That's our place ...
There was one detail, however, that he was not yet aware of. “I'm sorry, Shmuli,” he said, before taking another sip. “Who did you say you were delivering it to?”.
"Who did you say you were?" Amelia pressed her ear to the doorjamb. "What did you say? Who did you say you were?" "My name is Miriam, and I'm Thomas ...

Alternatives:

Can you repeat your name, please?
Could you remind me who you are?
Can you confirm your identity again?
Can you clarify who you are?
Can you tell me your name again?

who are you

This phrase is correct and commonly used to directly ask for someone's identity.

This phrase is a direct question asking for the person's identity without any prior mention or need for confirmation.

Examples:

Who are you and what do you want?
Excuse me, who are you?
Who are you looking for?
Who are you talking to?
Who are you going with?

Alternatives:

What's your name?
May I ask who you are?
Could you introduce yourself?
Can you tell me who you are?
What is your identity?

What Our Customers Are Saying

Our customers love us! We have an average rating of 4.79 stars based on 283,125 votes.
Also check out our 2,100+ reviews on TrustPilot (4.9).

"Thank you!"
Sachi Nakama July 2024
"I have literally been through chat, PI, claude, bard and bing and I got conflicting answers! Thank you! Human intelligence reigns!"
Retha July 2024
"Faster than AI"
CYNTHIA December 2023
"This was very helpful and I personally think this site is the best."
Kaden October 2023
"It was extremely thorough and very helpful!"
imperialelisa October 2023
"7 years without any disappointment. Always 100% satisfied. You guys are the best in the world at what you do. Thank you so much :)"
Zubair Alam October 2023
"In a world of text messages and online communication, this is great to have as a live tool. Thank you."
Selena October 2023
"Without textranch I would be stuck!"
宏祐 October 2023
"Accuracy and fast response. Personal comments from editor. Thank you."
Clh September 2023
"I wasn't aware of this service, it's fascinating and more reliable than standard IA tools available on the internet"
Arturo September 2023
"The fact that you can get reliable fast feedback on your texts."
Vinicius Antonio August 2023
"you guys are better than grammarly i'm being honest here"
ordinary July 2023
"OMG! This is really good than any other text correction tools I've used so far. Highly recommend this."
Vehan July 2023
"Very fast and accurate. thank you."
mojtaba July 2023
"I love this app because it's help to writing skills all of students ♥️"
Tarisini July 2023
"This was exactly the mistake I was looking for, the wording dind´t sound right at first. Better than grammarly!"
Ente July 2023
"The immediate help that I received was reassuring and very satisfactory. Thanks."
priiiyanshuu July 2023
"this helps A LOT for my studies."
kathnunez02 June 2023
"Woow!! I would never have expected such precision! Thank you soooo much!!"
Berta June 2023
"Real Time Editor and not AI. Many Thanks."
Priya June 2023
"The very first thing excites me about Textranch is how much your editors care."
sepideh June 2023
"The fact that texts are checked by human editors rather than by AI, etc. I appreciate this!"
Анна June 2023
"Feel welcome, immediate response, high quality feedback"
martin.roy June 2023
"This is the best app that I have ever seen"
Burulai May 2023

who did you say you were vs who are you