When’s the last time you were in my house?
Question: I always say, "when WAS the last time…?’
So it is okay to use when IS the last time… in this situation?
Thank you!!!
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Yes, you can use both, there’s no real difference. “Was” would be grammatically correct, but “is” is fine in spoken English as well.
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The last time you were in my house is obviously in the past, but it is in the past now. So when is the last time is correct.
However, the last time you were in my house was a time before now. Therefore, when was the last time is also correct and, I think, far more popular, at least in writing. In a fast speech, though, "“When’s the last time…” is obviously quicker and easier to say than “When was the last time…”
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In spoken English, both are correct. In writing you need to use “was” because that is technically grammatically correct.
In spoken english the rules aren’t as strict. For example, it is common to hear people say “there’s lots of people in here”. Although it is technically incorrect, it still sounds perfectly natural when spoken.
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As others have said, ‘was’ is correct but the apostrophe s is common usage (although saying ‘is’ in full would sound wrong). Another good example of this is that native speakers often say ‘There’s’ when it should be ‘There are’ (e.g. 'There’s 50 people coming tonight).
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Yes, you can use it anyway, just one is more literary, and the second is colloquial!
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Oh, this question also tormented me a little, I did not know where to look, thanks for the answers!