In your storyline, everything is in the past, but some actions happened before others. And then it turned out that they had put together the most memorable party of your life! So you start by telling your friends how disappointed you were with your family because you believed they had forgotten about your big day. Imagine you wanted to share a story about your surprise birthday party. This is what sets the present perfect apart from the past perfect, because when we use the past perfect, the time reference is the past exclusively.įor more information about the present perfect, check out this simple explanation of the present perfect we posted some time ago. In all of these cases, the timestamp extends from the past up into the present. These are some of the essential uses of the present perfect, that is to say talking about accomplishments and experiences, indefinite past actions, ongoing events, or news we would like to share.

Or you want to talk about repeated actions that happened at different, yet indefinite times in your life. Say you want to share a funny anecdote or an important achievement, maybe a project you’ve started but you’re still working on. It’s time to check the present perfect and the past perfect individually. (Meaning: after ten years, I moved to London) I had lived in Italy for 10 years before moving to London. In other words, an action or actions happening before another. We use it when talking about a past action that’s finished before a certain time or before another past action. It might be because that event is unfinished, or that it may be relevant to the present time. With this, the action starts in the past but somehow extends up to the present. When we refer to past actions that happened at an indefinite time, the present perfect is the right choice. How is the past time involved in these tenses? (Meaning: the first time I played before an audience was in my audition.) The timelines of the present perfect and the past perfect When I auditioned for the music scholarship, I had never played the piano before an audience. (This means that up until now, this has been my experience.) I have never played the piano before an audience in my life. These examples will make this point clearer: And with the past perfect, we look back from a specific time in the past. But what does it mean?īy definition, the perfect aspect looks back from a specific point of time and refers to all those things that occurred up to that time or that are relevant at that time.Īs implied by their names, with the present perfect we recall the past from the present. The perfect aspect of these tenses might be the source of confusion for some learners. Of course, their differences go beyond the way they’re structured, so let’s get down to them now. Have/Has + Past Participle The past perfect: THE PAST PERFECT Present perfect and past perfect structuresīefore digging deeper into this topic, let’s quickly review the structures. So, let 's get started! THE PRESENT PERFECT VS. Using adverbs with the present perfect and the past perfect The timelines of the present perfect and the past perfect Present perfect and past perfect structures In short, we use the present perfect to talk about recent or past events that happened at an indefinite time, and we use the past perfect to refer to something that occurred before something else. So what’s the difference between the present perfect and the past perfect? It’s actually more common than you think.īut the good news is, the difference is pretty straightforward. There's not much to choose between the two methods.Have you ever hesitated between choosing between the present perfect and the past perfect? Collins COBUILD English Usage © HarperCollins Publishers 1992, 2004, 2011, 2012 choose

Define choose past tense