Lesson 4: Present perfect or past simple?

Past simple

You know from the A2 level that we use the past simple when we use a finished time word, like 'last week' or 'in 2017'. We also use the past simple when we ask questions with 'when' or 'what time'.

This includes habits and states that happened in the past. The way we know it's in the past could be a phrase like 'when he was a child'. It doesn't have to always be a time word.

• My grandfather walked to school when he was a child.
• We were all very happy at that time.

Present perfect

You know from the A2 level that we use the present perfect when we are talking about an experience in someone's life and we don’t say exactly when it happened (this is often called 'life experience') and we also use the present perfect to ask questions about life experience, often with 'have you ever'.

We also use the present perfect when:

We are talking about 'how long' for things that started in the past but are still true now.

• I've worked here for ten years.
• How long have you worked here?

We often use the present perfect with 'just / yet / already' but this rule is not 100%.