Past Simple and Present Perfect (Part 2)
Words that indicate present perfect
Here is a very good trick to distinguish the present perfect from the past simple. In this table you can see words that express moments or periods of time related to the present perfect.
| Indicadores del present perfect | Significado | Ejemplo |
| Never | Nunca | I’ve never been to India. Nunca he estado en la India. |
| Ever | Alguna vez | Have you ever seen a tiger? ¿Alguna vez has visto un tigre? |
| Still | Todavía/aún | They have still not found a place to live. Todavía no han encontrado un lugar para vivir. |
| Already | Ya | They have already made plans for the weekend. Ellos ya han hecho planes para el fin de semana. |
| Just | Acabar de | I’ve just missed the train. Acabo de perder el tren. |
| Today, this morning, this month, this year… | Hoy, esta mañana, este mes, este año… | I’ve visited my grandparents twice this year. He visitado a mis abuelos dos veces este año. |
| Since | Desde | My parents have lived in this house since 2001. Mis padres viven en esta casa desde 2001. |
| For | Durante/por | She’s lived in this house for 5 years. Lleva 5 años viviendo en esta casa. |
| Yet | Todavía/aún | I haven’t traveled to Asia yet. Todavía no he viajado a Asia. |
Words that indicate past simple
In this table you can see words that express moments or periods of time related to the past simple.
| Indicadores del past simple | Significado | Ejemplo |
| Last (month, week, year…) | El mes/semana, año pasado | Last week, I went to the beach with my friends. La semana pasada, fui a la playa con mis amigos |
| Yesterday | Ayer | Yesterday, I watched a movie and ate popcorn. Ayer, vi una película y comí palomitas. |
| Ago (a moth ago, 2 years ago…) | Hace (1 mes, 2 años…) | Two years ago, I visited Paris and saw the Eiffel Tower. Hace dos años, visité París y vi la Torre Eiffel. |
| In (In June, in Summer, in 1990…) | En (junio, verano, 1990…) | My birthday was in June. Mi cumpleaños fue en junio. |
| At (At 3 o’clock, at midnight, at Christmas…) | A (las 3, a medianoche, en Navidad…) | We left at 3 o’clock. Nos fuimos a las 3. |
| On (On Tuesday, on the 3rd August…) | El (martes, el 3 de agosto…) | I called my mom on Saturday. Llamé a mi madre el sábado. |
Now jump to the next lesson to practice what you’ve learnt! 👉
