Speaker 1: I went to Central Park yesterday. Of course, it wasn't
my first time to go there. I have been to
Central Park many times before I went to Central Park.
I have been to Central Park.
Speaker 2: Let's discuss Welcome to another Happy English podcast, coming to
you from New York City, and here's your English teacher, Michael.
Speaker 1: All right, thank you John, and thanks everyone. It's Michael
here from Happy English and I help people speak English better.
This is Happy English Podcast Episode seven fifty three Present
Perfect Tense. Recently, a lot of my students and followers
have asked me about the difference between sentences like I
lived there and I have lived there. You may have
heard these grammar patterns are called the simple past and
present perfect. Well, if these have caused you confusion, you've
landed on the right podcast English lesson. Today. I'm going
to help to clear this up for you. We'll start
off simple talking about the simple past, and then move
on to the present perfect Let's dive in. I went
to Central Park. This grammar is called the simple past tense,
and when we use the simple past tense, we talk
about a completed action in the past. Here are some examples.
I went to Central Park yesterday, I ate lunch with
my coworkers today, I enjoyed my Japanese lesson with psayaka
sense this afternoon. You'll notice that in these examples, we
know exactly when the completed action happened. Like I went
to Central Park yesterday, I ate lunch with my coworkers today,
I enjoyed my Japanese lesson with psayakas and say this afternoon.
That's how the simple past tense works. It's a completed
action in the past, and we know when it happened. Now,
let's look at the present perfect tense. I have been
to Central Park. The grammar pattern is have followed by
the past participle form of the verb. A basic example
of this pattern is like this, I work, I worked,
I have worked. I buy, I bought, I have bought,
I go, I went, I have gone. When we use
this grammar, we're talking about our experience sometime in the past.
I have been to Central Park many times before, but
unlike the simple past, I don't mention when I went
to Central Park. I'm just telling you about my experience.
I'm telling you that it happened, not when it happened.
Here are some other examples. My favorite movie is Casablanca.
I have seen that movie more than ten times. Joe
has never been to New York City. If you want
to ask someone about their experience, you can ask have
you ever, followed by the past participle verb have you
ever been to New York? Have you ever eaten es gargo?
Have have you ever gone skydiving? If someone asks you
have you ever done something? There are two ways you
can answer. Have you ever been to New York? Yes,
I have.
Speaker 2: I went there in twenty twenty. Have you ever been
to New York? No, I haven't, but I would love
to go there someday.
Speaker 1: In everyday conversational English, it's pretty common to answer a
question like this with more information than just yes or no.
Have you ever eaten a scargo? Yes?
Speaker 2: I have, It's really tasty. Have you ever gone skydiving?
Speaker 3: No? I haven't.
Speaker 1: It's too dangerous for me. Be careful of one thing.
We use ever in the question, but not the answer.
If someone asks where have you traveled in Europe? You
can answer, oh, I have been to Italy, but not
oh I have ever been to Italy using ever like this.
This is a pretty common mistake, so try to avoid
doing that. The other way we use the present perfect
is to talk about something that started in the past
and continues to the present. When we use present perfect
this way, we use four. And since I have played
the guitar since I was a kid, this means I
started when I was a kid and I still play
the guitar. Terry has been in New York for nine months.
This means he arrived nine months ago and he's still here.
I have been helping people learn English since nineteen ninety four.
And just to be clear, remember that we use four
followed by a time period for a month, for two years,
or for my whole life. We use since followed by
one point in time. You can say things like since
last month, since twenty twenty two, or since I was born.
If you want to ask someone with this topic, you
can ask how long have you followed by the past
participle verb. How long have you lived in New York?
How long have you been married? How long have you
worked in this company. That's the basic idea of how
we use the present perfect tense in American English. Keep
in mind, the best way to remember this grammar and
any other word or phrase in English is to take
that word or phrase write it in a sentence that's
true for you or true in your world, and then
memorize your sentences. Hey, did you know that you can
get the chance to practice this kind of English with
me directly. You can get more practice using your English
when you join my podcast Learners study group. There you
can make new friends, join us for live group lessons
every week where we practice these podcast lessons together. Plus
you get access to the pdf, transcript and audio download
for every Happy English podcast in the past and in
the future. And on top of that, each episode has
exercises where you can practice this English point with speaking
and writing checked by me. To learn more, just visit
Myhappy English dot com and choose podcast lesson seven fifty three. Remember,
learning another language is not easy, but it's not impossible,
and I'm here to help you on your journey.
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Speaker 1: S