Present Perfect
vs Past Simple
Both talk about the past. Which one you pick depends on whether the time is finished. Learn to decide with three questions.
For teachers
- A timeline works for this one. It didn't for topic 1, but it does here. Draw a line with “now” in the middle. Put today, this week, this year in a box that reaches up to now, and yesterday, last week, 2019 in the box behind it. Let students sort time words into the two boxes.
- Make the three questions a habit. “Is a finished time named? Is the period still running? Does the result matter now?” Have the class ask them aloud before each sentence. After two or three rounds it runs by itself.
- The present perfect opens, the past simple carries on. In pairs: one asks “Have you ever…?”, the answer is “Yes, I have.”, then a detail follows: “I went there last year.” Two tenses in one conversation, each in its place.
- People who are no longer alive. Shakespeare, Picasso, Einstein. Ask the class “is this person still alive?” If yes, the present perfect is possible (Spielberg has directed…); if not, past simple.
- Practise When separately. When did you…? is always past simple, while Have you ever…? is present perfect. Write the two side by side. When a student says When have you…?, asking just “When?” is enough to prompt a self-correction.
- Do the “Type it” level with books closed. Students choose the tense themselves; in the multiple-choice levels the options did that for them.
Topic order
Related pages
What it's for
The past simple describes a finished moment or period: I saw him yesterday. The event is over, and we know, or could say, when it happened. The present perfect describes a period that reaches up to now, or an event whose effect is still here: I have seen him this week. The week isn't over.
To choose, ask three questions in order. 1) Is a finished time named? (yesterday, last week, in 2019, two days ago, when I was a child) If yes, past simple, no discussion. 2) Is the time period still running? (today, this week, so far, ever, never, just, already, yet, for, since) If yes, present perfect. 3) If neither is there: does the result matter now? If so, present perfect. If the event is part of a story, past simple.
If the person or the period is over, the present perfect is out. Shakespeare wrote 37 plays. The effect may last, but the writer is no longer alive. My grandfather lived in Leeds all his life. Saying that, you mean he's gone.
A good habit: the present perfect opens, the past simple carries on. Have you ever been to Italy? Yes, I have. I went to Rome last year and I saw the Colosseum. The first sentence asks about experience; once the details come in, the time is fixed and the past simple takes over.
The two tenses side by side
| Past simple | V2 (positive) · did + V1 (questions and negatives) | I saw him. Did you see him? |
| Present perfect | have / has + V3 | I have seen him. Have you seen him? |
| Negative | didn't + V1 · haven't / hasn't + V3 | I didn't see him. I haven't seen him. |
| Short answer | Yes, I did. · Yes, I have. | Did you go? Yes, I did. |
| When…? | When always takes the past simple | When did you arrive? |
| How long…? | If the time is still running → present perfect | How long have you lived here? |
Signal words: which tense?
Don't skip the last row: in the afternoon, this morning is over, so I saw him this morning. While it's still morning, I've seen him this morning.
Common mistakes
and who tends to make themThese eight mistakes turn up in classrooms everywhere. Most of them come from the learner's own language having one past form where English has two. Under each one you'll see who tends to make it.
Why: However recent it is, two hours ago is a point in time. Wherever you see ago, it's the past simple.
Who makes it: Speakers of languages where “have + participle” is the everyday past: German sie hat mich vor zwei Stunden angerufen, French elle m'a appelé il y a deux heures, Italian mi ha chiamato due ore fa.
Why: The effect lasting is not what decides it. What decides it is that the writer is no longer alive. You can't use the present perfect for a person or period that is over.
Who makes it: Almost everyone at B1: “the plays are still read” feels like a link to now, so the present perfect looks right.
Why: When already asks for a specific moment, so it can't sit next to the present perfect. When + did, always.
Who makes it: Speakers of French quand es-tu arrivé ?, German wann bist du angekommen?, Italian quando sei arrivato?, and Peninsular Spanish ¿cuándo has llegado? — the compound past works with “when” there.
Why: Seeing for and answering “present perfect” is the most common shortcut, and it's wrong. Ask the real question: are you still there? If not, it's the past simple.
Who makes it: Learners of every language who were taught “for = present perfect” as a rule instead of as a tendency.
Why: Once learners meet been to, they use it for every trip. But last year is a finished time. Have you been to London? is fine; as soon as you name the time you need went.
Who makes it: Speakers of Peninsular Spanish, where he estado en Londres este año is natural, and learners of every language who have just met been to.
Why: When you tell events one after another, each is a step in a story, and stories run on the past simple. Learners who think the present perfect sounds “more correct” put have on every verb.
Who makes it: Speakers of languages with a compound past (French, German, Italian), and anyone told that the present perfect is “more formal”.
Why: Since reaches from the past up to now, so even the negative needs haven't. The past simple negative can't carry a period that is still running.
Who makes it: Speakers whose language uses the plain past negative here: Turkish Pazartesiden beri görmedim, Russian я не видел его с понедельника, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic.
Why: It sounds like experience, so learners reach for the present perfect. But when + a past clause marks a closed period, and a closed period means the past simple.
Who makes it: Learners who link the present perfect with “work experience”; French, German and Italian speakers.