I have gone versus I had gone. What's
the difference? If the present perfect
and past perfect confuse you, you are
not alone. Many English learners have
trouble with these. So, in this video,
I'll show you exactly when and why we
use the present perfect and past perfect
using real examples and easy tips you'll
remember. By the end, you'll be able to
say, "Ah, now I get it." And a little
something extra, you can download
today's lesson, plus a quiz to test
yourself and see how well you've learned
these two tenses. Click on the link in
the video description to get that free
PDF with the quiz. Just enter your email
address and I'll send it to you right
away. Okay, let's get started. Both
present perfect and past perfect talk
about something that happened before a
point in time, which we can call the
reference point. In the present perfect,
our reference point is the present. And
in the past perfect, our reference point
is in the past. Here's a quick example
to show you. If I say, "I have cleaned
the house," that's present perfect. I'm
saying, "I cleaned the house before the
present, before now." But if I say, "I
had cleaned the house by the time the
guests arrived last night." Now I'm
saying I cleaned the house before a
point in the past before the guests
arrived last night. So that's past
perfect. Let's look at each tense in a
little more detail. We can use present
perfect in two situations. One is an
action that started in the past and
continues to the present. For example, I
have lived in the city for six months.
Another situation is for an action that
happened before now when I don't say
exactly when. For example, I have been
to Japan twice. We form the present
perfect by using have or has plus the
past participle of the verb. And we
often use the short form like this. I've
already eaten. She's left for the day,
meaning she has left. He hasn't called
me yet. I haven't seen that movie. Have
you finished your homework? Has he ever
been out of the country? So, present
perfect for actions that started in the
past and continue to the present or
actions that happened before now at an
unspecified time. We use the past
perfect for an action that happened
before a time in the past. For example,
my kids had fallen asleep by the time I
got home yesterday. We form the past
perfect with had and the past
participle. And again, we can use the
short form as you'll see in the next
examples.
So let's say I went to Japan in 1988 and
1991 and I turned 10 years old in 1994.
So then I could say in the past perfect
I had been or I'd been to Japan twice by
the time I was 10 years old. Another
situation, let's say my husband ate
breakfast at 6:00 a.m. and I woke up at
7 a.m. I could say this in the past
perfect. When I woke up this morning, my
husband had already eaten breakfast.
That is the past action he did before
the other past action of I woke up. Here
are some examples of the negative past
perfect of something that didn't happen
before an event in the past. He hadn't
studied enough, so he failed the
test. They were starving at dinnertime
because they hadn't eaten all day.
Now you know present perfect for things
that happened before now and past
perfect for things that happened before
a past point. Quick quiz, which one is
correct? We got to the station late and
the train had or has already
left. The correct answer is had. We got
to the station. That's in the past. And
what happened before that past point was
that the train had already left. That's
the past perfect. the past before the
past. Your next challenge is to test
yourself by downloading the free quiz in
the video description. Go ahead and give
it a try to see if you've mastered the
present perfect and past perfect.
There's lots more to learn when it comes
to English grammar, and that's why I
wrote my basic and intermediate English
grammar ebooks. You can download both
books, including audio, for just $1. The
link for that is also in the video
description. So, make sure to get those
if you want to improve your grammar
quickly and easily.
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