Who's there or who's that when someone knocks on door.

[Lora918]

Hii

I'm still learning the English language. Which one is more correct

I would say "hello?" In a questioning manner.

droopy would you do that with a sort of rising intonation?

I check who it is first if I can't tell. I had an unsolicited door knocker force their way into my house a few years ago so I'm very careful now and if it seems rude that's too bad, I'm just protecting my family. Who is it please? Usually works fine.

Bit off topic. but when watching american tv programmes people seem to knock on the actual door with their knuckles , dont they have door knockers in America?

[quote AlGorithim]Neither is correct. You have to start chanting ‘there’s somebody at the door, there’s somebody at the door’.

[/quote] That was so disappointing....I wanted it to be Grotbags

'Who's there' is better than 'who's that'. 'Who's that' seems a bit rude. But 'who is it' is better.

@GlamGiraffe

I say, hello, who is it?

This is what I would say, but these days I ignore the door most of the time.

If it is my front door I wouldn’t say anything, I would just answer it, perhaps peep out first. If it were an office door at work, I would say “come in”.

Wow all the people saying ‘just answer it’ totally missing this is an English language question.

OP, I’d probably just say ‘hello?’ or ‘hello who’s there please?’ but ‘who is it?’ is also fine.

‘Who’s that?’ would be rude to shout through the door but you might say it to someone else in the house with you at the time.

[quote AlGorithim]Neither is correct. You have to start chanting ‘there’s somebody at the door, there’s somebody at the door’.

[/quote] This is what we do , it entertains the dog and detracts from the manic barking .

If the door is opaque and you can’t see anything of who it it (and this is a front door I’m assuming) then I would say ‘who is that?’
If I can see through glass a blurry shape I’m more likely to say ‘what do you want?’
If I’m at work I’ll just shout ‘come in’.
If at home and I’ve been ill or similar and dp knocks quietly I might do small pathetic moan and get sympathy

If you're going to ask, then "Who is it?"

If you had to pick from the two, then "Who's there?" sounds better.

Always found "Who's that?" really confrontational and demanding.

@PurpleyBlue

Hello?

That's what I say too.

‘Who’s that’ is a bit much. When I was writing that I had a very clear image of a cold caller at my door !

Is "you have five seconds to identify yourself before I set the dogs on you" too much?

I'd go with "who is it?" Then "who is there?"

"Who is that" sounds like an annoyed tone to me!

Is "you have five seconds to identify yourself before I set the dogs on you" too much?

Ha!

I was going to go with “You’ve got 5 seconds to get the fuck off my property”

The only time I’ve ever enquired as to who was at the door, is when someone has knocked late at night. Then I think I said “who is it”. But normally I would just open the door.

Can’t you just open the door?

I can’t recall when someone knocked mine, they open and shout “yoohoo”!

We all do some sort of weird singing chant thing that goes "There's somebody at the door, there's somebody at the door" not to the person at the door just each other. Then we answer the door and see who it is. I think its off some sort of old TV programme and we have just picked it up from my mum and dad.

Who is it

"Who is it?" is the most natural sounding way to enquire, if you'd rather know someone's identity before opening the door to them or telling them to come in. "Who's there?" or "Who's that?" sounds like you think they could be an axe murderer!