Past perfect or Present perfect tenses Anybody can help me to understand the difference between present perfect and past perfect? Altough I know, that the activity in past perfect was earlier in time

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NorbertHun

Past perfect or Present perfect tenses Anybody can help me to understand the difference between present perfect and past perfect? Altough I know, that the activity in past perfect was earlier in time than the other activity, which is in simple past. But I often see that past perfect is used on its own, where isn't an other activity. In this case why can't we use present perfect?

Mar 14, 2015 12:00 PM

Corrections · 5

Past perfect or Present perfect tenses

Anybody can help me to understand the difference between present perfect and past perfect? Although I know that the action in the past perfect happened earlier in time than the other action, which is in the simple past. But I often see that past perfect is used on its own, where there isn't any other action. In this case why can't we use present perfect?

Strictly speaking, the past perfect is only used when referring to something that happened before something else in the past. So whenever you see the past perfect being used on its own, it's wrong; you have to use the simple past instead (but a lot of people mistakenly do it, even fluent speakers).

e.g. He had studied enough, so he failed the exam.

He did not study enough.

The present perfect is used for something that either has just happened or still is affecting the present. Usually it's used with words like "just", "already", "yet", etc.

Compare:
I have just eaten the cake.
I ate the cake (a long time ago).

I have lived in Melbourne for 3 years (and I'm still living there).
I lived in Melbourne for 3 years (and I no longer live there).

March 14, 2015

Sorry the comment above is all jumbled up. I have rewritten it as a correction instead.

March 14, 2015

Strictly speaking, the past perfect is only used when referring to something that happened before something else in the past. So whenever you see the past perfect being used on its own, it's wrong; you have to use the simple past instead (but a lot of people mistakenly do it, even fluent speakers). e.g. He had studied enough, so he failed the exam. He did not study enough. The present perfect is used for something that either has just happened or still is affecting the present. Usually it's used with words like "just", "already", "yet", etc. Compare: I have just eaten the cake. vs. I ate the cake (a long time ago). I have lived in Melbourne for 3 years (and I'm still living there). vs. I lived in Melbourne for 3 years (and I no longer live there).

March 14, 2015

we use present perfect tense to describe an activity that already happened. at a glance, present perfect and simple past are alike. But we use past time to describe an activity that happened in a specific time. For example: we studied Japanese last year. We use present prefect to describe an activity that happened but we don't know the specific time. "We have studied Japanese." Past perfect is used to describe an activity that happened before other activity in the past time. For example: We had finished dinner before she came back.

March 14, 2015

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