B1Present tenses

Past simple or present perfect

Choose the past simple for finished past time and the present perfect for experience, recent results or periods that connect to now.

Overview

What this grammar does

Choose the past simple for finished past time and the present perfect for experience, recent results or periods that connect to now.

Form and rules

How it works

Use the past simple when the speaker places an event in a finished past period: last year, yesterday, in 2023.

Use the present perfect when no finished time is stated and the result or experience matters now.

Use the present perfect with since/for for situations that began in the past and continue now.

Use past simple after When...? because the question normally asks about a finished time.

With today/this week/this year, either tense may be possible depending on whether the speaker sees the period as still open or finished.

A closer look

Meaning and use

Use past simple after When...? because the question normally asks about a finished time.

With today/this week/this year, either tense may be possible depending on whether the speaker sees the period as still open or finished.

Examples

See the pattern in complete sentences

I've lost my wallet, so I can't pay.

I lost my wallet last week, but I found it.

We've known each other for ten years.

When did you start this job?

I've had four meetings today.

Common mistakes

What to avoid

I meet him at a conference in 2022.

I met him at a conference in 2022.

In 2022 is a finished past time.

I can't open the door because I lost last year my keys.

I can't open the door because I have lost my keys.

The present result matters now and no finished time is given.

Ready to practise?

The test combines multiple choice, gap completion, error correction, and sentence building so students have to recognise and produce the grammar, not simply reread the rule.

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