Present Perfect - Simple Past

Present Perfect
[has/have + past participle]

1. Present perfect - form
The present perfect of any verb is composed of two elements : the appropriate form of the auxiliary verb to have (present tense), plus the past participle of the main verb. The past participle of a regular verb is base+ed, e.g. played, arrived, looked. For irregular verbs, see the Table of irregular verbs in the section called 'Verbs'.
Affirmative


Subject
to have
past participle
She
has
visited
Negative


Subject
to have + not
past participle
She
hasn't
visited
Interrogative


to have
subject
past participle
Has
she
visited..?
Interrogative negative
to have + not subject past participle
Hasn't she visited...?
Example: to walk, present perfect
Affirmative
Negative
Interrogative
I have walked
I haven't walked
Have I walked?
You have walked
You haven't walked
Have you walked?
He, she, it has walked
He, she, it hasn't walked
Has he,she,it walked
We have walked
We haven't walked
Have we walked?
You have walked
You haven't walked
Have you walked?
They have walked
They haven't walked
Have they walked?

2. Present perfect, function
The Present Perfect is used to indicate a link between the present and the past. The time of the action is before now but not specified, and we are often more interested in the result than in the action itself.
BE CAREFUL! There may be a verb tense in your language with a similar form, but the meaning is probably NOT the same.


The present perfect is used to describe:
1.An action or situation that started in the past and continues in the present. Example: I have lived in Bristol since 1984 (= and I still do.)

2. An action performed during a period that has not yet finished. Example: She has been to the cinema twice this week (= and the week isn't over yet.)

3. A repeated action in an unspecified period between the past and now. Example: We have visited Portugal several times.

4. An action that was completed in the very recent past, (expressed by 'just'). Example: I have just finished my work.

5. An action when the time is not important. Example: He has read 'War and Peace'. (the result of his reading is important)
Note: When we want to give or ask details about when, where, who, we use the simple past. Example: He read 'War and Peace' last week.

Examples:

1. Actions started in the past and continuing in the present.
a. They haven't lived here for years.
b. She has worked in the bank for five years.
c. We have had the same car for ten years.
d. Have you played the piano since you were a child?

2. When the time period referred to has not finished.
a. I have worked hard this week.
b. It has rained a lot this year.
c. We haven't seen her today.

3. Actions repeated in an unspecified period between the past and now.
a. They have seen that film six times.
b. It has happened several times already.
c. She has visited them frequently.
d. We have eaten at that restaurant many times.

4. Actions completed in the very recent past (+just).
a. Have you just finished work?
b. I have just eaten.
c. We have just seen her.
d. Has he just left?

5. When the precise time of the action is not important or not known.
a. Someone has eaten my soup!
b. Have you seen 'Gone with the Wind'?
c. She's studied Japanese, Russian and English.



SIMPLE PAST

BE CAREFUL! The simple past in English may look like a tense in your own language, but the meaning may be different.

1. Simple past, form
Regular verbs: base+ed
e.g. walked, showed, watched, played, smiled, stopped

Irregular verbs: see list in verbs
Simple past, be, have, do:
Subject

Verb
Be

Have

Do
I

was

had

did
You

were

had

did
He, she, it

was

had

did
We

were

had

did
You

were

had

did
They

were

had

did

Affirmative
a. I was in Japan last year
b. She had a headache yesterday.
c. We did our homework last night.

Negative and interrogative
Note: For the negative and interrogative simple past form of "do" as an ordinary verb, use the auxiliary "do", e.g. We didn't do our homework last night. The negative of "have" in the simple past is usually formed using the auxiliary "do", but sometimes by simply adding not or the contraction "n't".
The interrogative form of "have" in the simple past normally uses the auxiliary "do".

* They weren't in Rio last summer.
* We hadn't any money.
* We didn't have time to visit the Eiffel Tower.
* We didn't do our exercises this morning.
* Were they in Iceland last January?
* Did you have a bicycle when you were a boy?
* Did you do much climbing in Switzerland?

Simple past, regular verbs
Affirmative
Subject
verb + ed


I
washed


Negative
Subject
did not
infinitive without to
They
didn't
visit ...
Interrogative
Did
subject
infinitive without to
Did
she
arrive...?
Interrogative negative
Did not
subject
infinitive without to
Didn't
you
like..?

Example: to walk, simple past.

Affirmative

Negative

Interrogative
I walked
I didn't walk
Did I walk?
You walked
You didn't walk
Did you walk?
He,she,it walked
He didn't walk
Did he walk?
We walked
We didn't walk
Did we walk?
You walked
You didn't walk
Did you walk?
They walked
They didn't walk
Did they walk?

Note: For the negative and interrogative form of all verbs in the simple past, always use the auxiliary 'did''.

Examples: Simple past, irregular verbs

to go
a. He went to a club last night.
b. Did he go to the cinema last night?
c. He didn't go to bed early last night.

to give
d. We gave her a doll for her birthday.
e. They didn't give John their new address.
f. Did Barry give you my passport?

to come
g. My parents came to visit me last July.
h. We didn't come because it was raining.
i. Did he come to your party last week?

2. Simple past, function
The simple past is used to talk about a completed action in a time before now. Duration is not important. The time of the action can be in the recent past or the distant past.

* John Cabot sailed to America in 1498.
* My father died last year.
* He lived in Fiji in 1976.
* We crossed the Channel yesterday.

You always use the simple past when you say when something happened, so it is associated with certain past time expressions
Examples:

* frequency:
often, sometimes, always;
* a definite point in time:
last week, when I was a child, yesterday, six weeks ago.
* an indefinite point in time:
the other day, ages ago, a long time ago etc.

Note: the word ago is a useful way of expressing the distance into the past. It is placed after the period of time e.g. a week ago, three years ago, a minute ago.

Examples:
a. Yesterday, I arrived in Geneva.
b. She finished her work at seven o'clock.
c. We saw a good film last week.
d. I went to the theatre last night.
e. She played the piano when she was a child.
f. He sent me a letter six months ago.
g. Peter left five minutes ago.