The Present Perfect Tense
and the Simple Past Tense

Introduction

This section will help you to understand the differences between the Present Perfect Tense and the Simple Past Tense.

	The present perfect is used when the time period has NOT finished:	I have seen three movies this week. (This week has not finished yet.)
	The simple past is used when the time period HAS finished:	I saw three movies last week. (Last week is finished.)

	The present perfect is often used when giving recent news:	Martin has crashed his car again. (This is new information.)
	The simple past is used when giving older information:	Martin crashed his car last year. (This is old information.)

	The present perfect is used when the time is not specific:	I have seen that movie already. (We don't know when.)
	The simple past is used when the time is clear:	I saw that movie on Thursday. (We know exactly when.)

	The present perfect is used with for and since, when the actions have not finished yet:	I have lived in Victoria for five years. (I still live in Victoria.)
	The simple past is used with for and since, when the actions have already finished:	I lived in Victoria for five years. (I don't live in Victoria now.)