Do you get confused using English tenses? In today's lesson, I teach you how and when to use the Present Perfect and Past Simple tenses. It's easy to confuse the two, and many English students make mistakes with these tenses. In this grammar lesson, you will learn how each one is used, how they are different from one another, and how to know which tense is correct for your sentence. English tenses can be difficult to master, but I'll teach you my quick and easy tips so that you can use these tenses correctly. Once you understand them, practice by taking my quiz.
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TRANSCRIPT
Hi there, guys, and welcome back to www.engvid.com. Going to be doing a grammar lesson today. We're looking at the difference between the present perfect and the past simple. Sometimes these tenses can look a little bit similar, so I want to point out to you why we use the present perfect when we're talking about something that's current, now, but looking back to the past; and then looking at the past simple as a simple completed action. I hope it's helpful. Let's get involved.
So:
"Bruce is looking for his helmet. He can't find it anywhere. So he __________", now what do you think should go here? "He __________ lost his helmet."
Okay, he's looking for his helmet, he can't find it, so we need to put something in here. Have you got it? Well the answer is: "has". Okay? So: "He has lost his helmet." Now, to form the present perfect, I put my subject, I'll just put "s" for subject, so: "I", "you", "he", "she", "we", "they", "it". Okay? Subject plus "has" or "have", plus the past participle. So if it's regular, you're going to be doing a verb with an "ed" ending. For example: "completed", "finished", "started". Okay? So verb plus: "ed". However, if it's irregular, it's going to have a slightly different ending. I'm hoping you've got a list of irregular verbs somewhere. Get in touch with me if you don't, I'll help out.
So, when are we talking about? "Bruce has lost his helmet. He has lost his helmet." Well, it's not future. Is it? Okay? It's either present or past. Now, we use the present perfect when we're looking at something that's kind of just happened. It happened quite recently; it's only just happened. So I'm going to write in: "recent", okay? "R-e-c-e-n-t", "recent". Say it back to me: "recent". Okay, it happened recently, the adverb. Great. So: "Bruce has lost his helmet." It's only just happened. It happened like an hour ago, it happened five minutes ago. For not much time has he lost his helmet.
Now, let's look at how we form this verb. As I said, we look at our subject so it's either: "I", or: "we", or: "they", or: "you". What do you think? "Has" or: "have" here? "I has" or: "I have"? That's it, it's: "I have". Okay? Now, the contraction for: "I have" is: "I've finished." -"Have you done your homework?" -"Yes, I've finished my homework. Just five minutes ago, I finished my homework." Okay?
Now, with the subjects: "he", "she", "it", we're going to need to use: "has". "Sorry about my pen, it has just run out of ink." Okay? So subject plus: "has". Contraction: "It's just run out of ink." So that brings me on to my next point, "run" would be an irregular verb. Okay? "R-u-n", it doesn't use an "ed" ending. Check out your list of irregular verb endings for the past participle. Good. Still with me? Still understanding? Still on the same page? Comprendo? Brilliant.
Now, we're going to look on to the past simple now.
"He"-Bruce-"lost his helmet." Okay? "He lost his helmet." This is the... Oh, dear, I got it the wrong way around. Teachers aren't perfect after all. So: "He lost his helmet is the past simple." Okay? Because it's a completed action that has happened in the past and it's finished. "He lost his helmet." Okay? So let's write in, past simple, that's there. "He lost his helmet." Done. Happened once, finished. "But now he has found it!" Tada! Great. So Bruce, he now has found it. Okay? And the pen has still run out of ink. "But now he has found it!" The difference... So this is my present perfect. It has something to do with now. "But now he has found it!" Okay? This "now" talks about the present. "But now he has found his helmet."
Let's look at the differences one more time. Present perfect, it tells us about the situation now. I have the helmet now. e.g: "Bruce has lost his helmet. He has lost his helmet." Now no helmet. Okay? Now, what do we know now? Well, now, there is no helmet.
Past simple: "He lost his helmet." When we use the past simple, we find out about the past, but we don't know about the present. Okay? So we know about the past, not the present. "Bruce lost his helmet." We don't know if he has his helmet now. We cannot see the present which is down here: "He does have his helmet." Okay? So the past just doesn't give us that information about right now, the past simple.
