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B1 grammar · teens and adults

Present perfect vs past simple

Finished time or a period that is still open? The contrast teens and adults get wrong longest, and the time words that decide it.

Teens · AdultsCEFR B1 · Intermediate

Age
Ages 12+
Level
B1
Skill
Grammar
Format
Teacher guide
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The rule

  • Past simple: a finished time that is stated or clear from context — yesterday, last year, in 2019, two weeks ago, when I was at school.
  • Present perfect: no finished time. Use it for life experience (ever, never), a past action with a result now (I've lost my keys) and a period that runs up to now (for, since, so far, this week).
  • A conversation often opens in the present perfect and moves to the past simple for the details: Have you ever been to Japan? — Yes, I went in 2022.
  • With just, already and yet, British English prefers the present perfect; American English often uses the past simple (Did you eat yet?).

Form

UseForm
Present perfecthave / has + past participle (worked, seen)
Past simpleverb + -ed / irregular past (worked, saw)
Negativehaven't seen · didn't see
QuestionHave you seen…? · Did you see…?
Time wordsever, never, just, yet, for, since · yesterday, ago, last…, in 2019
Printable worksheetPresentation (PPT)

Example sentences

Tap a sentence to hear it. The translation follows each one.

Quick check: choose the right form

Five sentences from this page, each with one gap. Choose the form that fits; when it is right, you hear the whole sentence.

  1. Yes, I blank there last spring.

  2. She has just blank the report.

  3. He blank it two hours ago.

  4. We blank at university in 2015.

  5. They have blank together for six years.

Common mistakes

What learners actually say, why, and which first language makes it typical.

Typical for Russian and Spanish speakers

I live in Moscow since 2015.I have lived in Moscow since 2015.

Russian and Spanish use the present for a situation that started in the past and still goes on (живу здесь с 2015 года, vivo aquí desde 2015). English needs the present perfect: the period runs from then up to now.

Typical for Spanish speakers

I have finished the project last week.I finished the project last week.

In Spain, «he terminado» covers anything that happened today, even with a clock time («he terminado a las nueve»), and the habit spreads to other finished times. Once a finished time is named (last week, at nine, this morning when it is now evening), English needs the past simple.

When have you arrived?When did you arrive?

When asks for a point in time, and a point in time is finished, so the question takes the past simple. Learners who have just met the present perfect often over-use it here.

Typical for Russian speakers

I never was in London.I have never been to London.

Russian «я никогда не был» is a past tense, so learners say I never was. Experience up to now is the present perfect, and a visit takes to: been to London.

How to teach it

  1. Draw two boxes on the board: a closed one (yesterday, in 2019, last week) and an open one with an arrow to now (ever, this year, since). Learners sort time phrases into the boxes before they see a single verb.
  2. Run a “find someone who” survey with Have you ever…? Every yes must be followed by a past-simple question: When was that? Where did you stay? That switch is the whole lesson.
  3. Use real lives: CV lines for adults (I have worked as…, I worked at… from 2019 to 2021), travel and gaming milestones for teens.
  4. Correct the time word, not the tense: when someone says “I have seen it yesterday”, point at yesterday and wait.

Questions teachers ask

Why do Russian speakers avoid the present perfect?

Russian has one past tense, and «я видел» covers both I saw and I have seen. So learners default to the past simple. Teach the present perfect through its three jobs (experience, a result now, a period up to now) rather than as “the past with have”.

Is “Did you eat yet?” wrong?

Not in American English, where the past simple with just, already and yet is normal. British English and Cambridge exams prefer Have you eaten yet? Teach one model and accept the other.

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