Past tenses
English has two ways to talk about the past, and it polices the border between them: the past simple (I saw) for finished, dated events, and the present perfect (I have seen) for pasts that still touch now. French passé composé and German Perfekt look like the present perfect but usually mean the past simple — this is the single biggest tense trap in English.
Past simple — finished, and WHEN matters
Regular verbs add -ed: work → worked, play → played, stop → stopped, study → studied. One form for all persons: I/you/she/we/they worked.
Pronunciation of -ed: /t/ after voiceless (walked), /d/ after voiced (played), /ɪd/ only after t or d (wanted, needed — never /ˈplejɪd/).
Use it whenever the time is over or stated: yesterday, last year, in 2010, when I was a child, two hours ago.
- I saw him yesterday. · She lived in Rome for five years. (she doesn't now)
Negatives and questions use did + base form: I didn't see him. Did you see him? (✗ didn't saw).
Present perfect — past with a foot in the present
have/has + past participle: I have worked, she has gone.
| use | example | signal words |
|---|---|---|
| result now | I**'ve lost** my keys. (they're still lost) | just, already, yet |
| life experience, time unstated | Have you ever been to Japan? | ever, never |
| unfinished period | She**'s worked** here for ten years. (still does) | for, since, so far, this week |
The border
| past simple | present perfect |
|---|---|
| I saw that film last week. | I**'ve seen** that film. (sometime — it's why I know the plot) |
| She lived here for years. (finished) | She**'s lived** here for years. (still here) |
| Did you eat at noon? | Have you eaten? (are you hungry now?) |
The rule Romance and German speakers need: a finished-time word (yesterday, ago, last…, in 1999, when…) forbids the present perfect.
✗ I have seen him yesterday. → I saw him yesterday. ✗ Ich habe ihn gestern gesehen → the habe…gesehen shape does NOT carry over.
American English relaxes this with just/already/yet: Did you eat yet? — fine in the US; British English says Have you eaten yet?
Past continuous — background in progress
was/were + -ing: an action in progress, typically interrupted by a past simple event:
- I was cooking when the phone rang. · At eight, we were driving home.
used to — discontinued habits
I used to smoke. (I don't now) · There used to be a cinema here. Negative/question: I didn't use to like it. Did you use to…? This covers the French imperfect's habitual sense (je fumais).
The top irregular verbs
| base | past | participle | base | past | participle | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| be | was/were | been | make | made | made | |
| have | had | had | know | knew | known | |
| do | did | done | think | thought | thought | |
| say | said | said | take | took | taken | |
| go | went | gone | come | came | come | |
| get | got | got (US: gotten) | give | gave | given | |
| see | saw | seen | find | found | found | |
| eat | ate | eaten | tell | told | told | |
| drink | drank | drunk | leave | left | left | |
| write | wrote | written | feel | felt | felt | |
| read | read /rɛd/ | read /rɛd/ | buy | bought | bought | |
| speak | spoke | spoken | bring | brought | brought | |
| put | put | put | run | ran | run |
Learn past and participle together — the past simple uses column two, the perfect tenses column three: I wrote / I have written.
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