Speaker 1: I went to a jazz club last night. I've actually
been to that club several times. I went there. I've
been there. Interesting grammar patterns, don't you think, let's discuss.
Speaker 2: 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.
And this is Happy English Podcast, Episode seven sixty two.
I went there, I've been there, yep. The simple past
versus the present perfect. Imagine for a sec you're catching
up with a friend, right and you want to tell
them about this concert you went to. You probably say
something like, oh, I saw Coldplay last night. They were
amazing and bam. You just used the simple past tense perfectly.
And you even threw in last night to specify the time.
The simple past tense something happened at a certain time
in the past. Something happened. I saw Coldplay at a
certain time in the past last night. And the time
is really important because without saying when, it'll leave your
listener guessing I saw Coldplay, we totally some information missing. Remember,
the simple past tells us something happened at a certain
time in the past. But hold on a sec What
if you want to talk about something that's started in
the past, but it's still true for you right now. Well,
that's where the present perfect tense comes in. You could
say I've been a Coldplay fan since I was in college.
There's no specific date, but it still has a connection
to you now. It's like building a bridge from then
to now. And speaking of bridges, how about this example.
I have lived in this city for ten years. The
action started in the past, but it's still going strong
in the present. So just to recap, we've got the
simple past for finished actions usually with a time, and
the present perfect for stuff that's connected to now. How
about a question, did you see the New Joker movie
last weekend? Now we know that's the simple past tense,
but why Well, because the question included last weekend. When
you want to ask someone about something they did in
the past, you need to include the time. Did you
talk to Jack this morning? Did you hear the news
about the hurricane today? Something happened at a certain time
in the past. But what if someone asks, have you
seen the New Joker movie? There's no specific time in
that question, just asking if it happened before, that's the
present perfect You know. A little trick you can use
is to imagine the present perfect tense, like a timeline.
It shows how something from the past still matters in
the present moment. So you're just not memorizing grammar rules,
you're leveling up your English communication skills like this one.
I visited Eastumbul three times? Three times? Isn't that like
a specific time? Not exactly, I visited Eastumbul three times.
I'm not saying when I went to Istanbul, just how
many times it's happened in my life. It could have
been three times this year or three times since I
was born. Present perfect just talks about experience. And let's
go back to the question have you ever been to Eastumbul? Yes,
I've been there three times. The last time I went
was in twenty oh nine. So here we have a
typical usage of both grammar pass veterans in one conversation.
When someone asks you your experience, it's always a good
idea to give more information in your answer. Have you
ever eaten scargo? No, I haven't, but I've heard it's
pretty tasty. How about you? Yeah, I have a few times.
In fact, I ate that last weekend in a restaurant
on Second Avenue. That's the difference between a real English
conversation and just practicing grammar. I want you to get
to a point in your English where you have longer
conversations by adding more information when you answer questions. A
conversation is not an interview. Have you ever been to Istanbul? Yes?
I have? And you no, I haven't. That's not communication.
That's just answering questions. Now listen to this one. Have
you ever seen Casablanca? Yeah? I have. I've seen it
like five times. It's my favorite movie. How about you.
I saw it for the first time last weekend. What
a great movie. Now that's an English conversation. Keep in
mind the best way to remember grammar like this 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 Learner's 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 sixty two. 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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