Pesky Perfects: How To Deal With Present And Past Perfect?

There’s no shame in struggling to differentiate between Past Simple, Present Perfect, and Past Perfect. English has its share of bumps - choosing the correct tense to talk about the future, using Conditionals correctly, and telling all the Conditionals apart, among others.

So, as you can see, there are many places you can stumble. The best course of action, is of course, to find a good English language school in San Diego and get cracking. But, if you’d like a quick check before you begin, let’s see about the Perfects.

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‍WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SIMPLE PAST AND PRESENT PERFECT TENSE?

Perfects indeed are pesky, as the title says. OK, the University of California Department of Linguistics says the same thing to be honest. Whereas some tenses are easier to learn than others, as is to be expected, Perfects are usually what causes a headache to many an English learner.

Most of the time, using perfective tenses boils down to developing that fabled “feeling” for the language, i.e. knowing what to use and how to use it without knowing why. Sounds a bit out there, right?

But it really isn’t, as the more time you spend learning a language, the better you get to know it, the easier it becomes to just use it correctly, without burdening yourself with the grammar of it all. But, before that time, we’re going to help you differentiate between the to in as much detail as we can.

WHEN DO I USE PAST SIMPLE TENSE?

In order to know when to use Present Perfect, and when to use Past Simple, you first have to know when to use one, and when the other. So, you use Past Simple Tense for actions that started in the past, happened in the past, and finished in the past. That’s it.

You would usually know when such an action occurred, or it would be logical from your statement that the action is done for. For example: “I bought a new sweater yesterday.” or “My friend gave me a beautiful birthday present.”

WHEN DO I USE PRESENT PERFECT TENSE?

When it comes to Present Perfect, you can use it on a bunch of occasions:

• Continuing action - If an action started in the past, but continues still, it’s Present Perfect time! “I have lived in this town for seven years.”
• Unfinished time period - If an action happened during a period of time that still lasts, you use Present Perfect. “I’ve been to the cinema three times this week.” What a cinephile!
• Recent events - If something’s just happened, you use “just”, and Present Perfect, same as us. “She has just finished eating breakfast.”
• Time not important - If it’s not important to say when exactly an event took place, you use Present Perfect. “Yes, I have read ‘Crime and Punishment’.”
• Life experience - If you’re going to comment on the stuff you did or didn’t do in your life, feel free to use Present Perfect. “I have never been to Australia.” or “I’ve tried paella and it’s incredible!”

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE, THEN?

We’ve presented you with many options describing when to use Present Perfect Tense, as we think it’s important for you to know. However, it can be confusing, so it’s best to use this simple rule of thumb - If you know when an action happened in the past, use Past Simple. If you don’t, or it’s not important, use Present Perfect. It’s easy when put like this?

‍HOW DO YOU USE PRESENT PERFECT AND PAST PERFECT?

We’ve already explained, and in great depth if we may add, all the possible uses of Present Perfect Tense. So no need to repeat ourselves. However, Past Perfect Tense is still somewhat of a mystery, isn’t it?

Let’s focus on it for a second? There’s really only a single reason to use Past Perfect, and it’s to describe an action that happened in the past, but before another past action or before a certain point in time.

Look at Past Perfect as that tense that tells about the days of yore, that describes events from the incredibly distant past, or an event that happened before another one. For example, “He had forgotten to bring his keys when he left the house.” OK, this one’s not so distant after all.

HOW DO I DIFFERENTIATE BETWEEN PAST PERFECT AND PRESENT PERFECT?

This one sounds difficult, but it actually isn’t. In fact, it’s much more difficult to learn when to use Past Simple, and when Present Perfect. And you’ve already learned that, so this should be a walk in the park.

And that’s just what it is. Listen - it’s time for that rule of thumb again. Only use Past Perfect when talking about the past, a distant past, where one even happened before another one. Use Past Perfect for the event that happened first (or last? what?), and you’re good to go. Don’t even throw Present Perfect into the mix on this one!

‍“IT’S STILL SOUNDS A BIT TOO COMPLICATED… IS THERE A LANGUAGE SCHOOL I COULD GO TO IN SAN DIEGO?”

If all of this is just too much for a beginner language learner like yourself to handle, we understand. Tenses are difficult, and that’s a fact. But, if you find a good school for English language in San Diego, it’s easy peasy. And we, the College of English Language, are the best of the bunch.

We use the most modern teaching methods combined with our state-of-the-art equipment to give our students the best possible learning experience. Couple that with our experienced teaching staff, and you get the idea. If you want to learn and enjoy the shopping sprees in Old Town, stop by our school and we’ll give you the know-how!