Blog

Grammar: Past Simple vs Present Perfect

Published 29/05/2015 In Blog

 

 

Function and Form: past simple

 

The past simple is used to talk about events that happened and finished in the past. They usually have a clear past time reference.

Past simple: past form of the verbs. A lot of verbs are regular so end in -ed (play = played; stay = stayed; help = helped).

Some verbs are *irregular, such as:

Eat = ate                                  Yesterday, I ate dinner with friends

Speak = spoke                      I spoke to my friend in China yesterday

Buy = bought                        I bought the new iPhone 600 last week.

 

*Above this explanation you have a table with the irregular verbs in English

 

Function and Form: present perfect

The present perfect literally means BEFORE NOW. It also talks about events in the past. However, these events have either happened very near the present (e.g. I have finished = just now) or have some connection with the present, either in time (for instance, today or this week) or in conversational topic.

Present perfect: have + past participle (3rd form of the verbs). With regular verbs, the past participle is usually the same as the past form. Irregular verbs can differ. For instance:

Eat = ate = eaten             I have eaten too much food this evening.

Speak = spoke = spoken         I have spoken to my friend on the phone 3 times today.

Buy = bought = bought           I have bought a new house. Do you want to see it? 

 

 

When to use the past simple or present perfect

Time phrases (adverbials) are very important in deciding whether to use the past simple or present perfect.

 

Common past simple time  phrases

 

Last year/month

 

yesterday             

 

3 years/months/weeks/days ago

 

    

Common present perfect time phrases 

 

 Since (from then until now)      

already

just      

 yet (usually used with negative)  

 ever (have you ever ...?)    

never (Negative reply)

  

 

1a. I travelled around Asia 10 years ago (‘ago’ points to a past, finished time)  

1b. I have travelled around Asia (BEFORE NOW)

2a. I went to the bank yesterday (finished time)                                  

2b. I have been to the bank today (it is still today, but the action happened before speaking)

3a. I studied at university for 4 years (I am no longer at university)

3b. I have studied at university for 4 years. (I started 4 years ago and I’m still there)   

 

 

 

 

Hopefully this grammar explanation will have helped you to understand how we form comparatives in Spanish, but if it isn't so don't hesitate to send me an email with your questions at info@keelyalgarlanguages.com

 I will be more than happy to answer any of your questions!

english grammar past simple vs present perfect past simple present perfect


contact | any questions?

Contact details

Message information

Validate that you are not a robot