Present Perfect or Simple Past? How to Choose
A practical way to decide between “I have lived here” and “I lived there”, with signal words and a very common mistake.
Many learners know the forms of both tenses but still hesitate when they have to choose. This post gives you one question to ask yourself and a short list of signal words.
One question to ask
Is the time finished and clearly in the past, or does the situation connect to now?
- Finished time: use the simple past. I visited Isfahan in 2019.
- Connection to now (or time that is not finished): use the present perfect. I have visited Isfahan three times.
Signal words
| Usually simple past | Usually present perfect |
|---|---|
| yesterday | already |
| last week / month / year | yet |
| in 2019 | just |
| two days ago | ever / never |
| when I was a child | for / since |
| (any specific, finished time) | so far / recently / lately |
A very common mistake
Because yesterday names a finished time, the present perfect does not fit:
I have seen him yesterday.
I saw him yesterday.
Same verb, different meaning
The tense changes what the listener understands:
- I lived in Tehran for five years. I don’t live there now.
- I have lived in Tehran for five years. I still live there.
- How long did you work there? You don’t work there any more.
- How long have you worked here? You still work here.
Practice
Ready to test yourself? Try the Present Perfect fill-in-the-blanks exercise.