Ah yes, a subject that often brings quite some confusion to English learners. The examples in the last couple of minutes were as clear as they can be. Well done as always.
I recommend you be nominated for the Nobel prize for being the best English teacher not just on youtube but on earth. I have been learning from you for many years. p.s. All the other English teachers are good, very good without a doubt. May God bless them all for teaching us English, but you are the best.
Oy! Nobel Prize? Not hardly. Al Gore and Barack Obama are Nobel Prize winners and they're ignorant communists. Gideon, on the other hand, is brilliant. A Nobel Prize is well beneath him. We give the Nobel Prize to monkeys - not geniuses.
I’m so delighted I came across your channel one day. The more I live, the more I get to know about Present Perfect and Past Simple 😂 Dude, it’s been like over 10 years of studies, but there’s always smth new dang it😂 Thank you so much!
English is my 1st foreign language, I've started learning it about 40yrs ago. For whatever reason I mostly get the grammar right just by the seat of my pants. Now it is my daughter who starts with English and I have to re-learn all the proper explanations - which a video like this is super helpful for.
Thanks to you for this content, I'm starting to watch it feeling regret that my understanding of Spanish grammar is more clear than English, despite that English was my first foreign language that I've learned.
Gideon thanks a lot for this explanation. My wife who is British wasn't able to explain to me the difference between the two. I make mistakes quite often. Being French it is to me one of the hardest part of English grammar to master (verb modality), phrasal verbs comes second.
As a french, it took me several years when I was younger to understand the difference, as we lost it in the french language, 1 or 2 centuries ago. In modern oral french we only use the present perfect as the only past tense, and the simple present as the normal present tense.
That’s why you have such a huge discrepancy between the spoken language and the written French. Written French has a terribly complex grammar, I daresay even more complex than Latin. But in the spoken language, on se fout de presque tout 🤓
I really enjoyed your post. It is one of the best I've ever heard. I use these three rules for the Past Simple: 1. Action is finished 2. Time referred to, not necessarily specified or exact as many grammar books say. 3. Time is finished For example: Yesterday, I played football. I went to Greece on my vacation. Dinosaurs walked on the Earth 60 million years ago. I went to George Washington High School. I hope that is helpful. I am going to give your video to my students as a great example Thanks!
I simply love this video! The present perfect forms of verbs is one of my pet peeves and the one that makes me the craziest is the once where you ask if John had ever run a marathon. Almost everybody I know would ask, "Have you ever ran a marathon?" That kind of thing drives me up a wall! "Have you ever drove to Florida?" GAAA!!! "Have you ever driven to Florida?" This video has confirmed my righteous indignation :) I'm not that smart and I was always a very poor student but that part of my education I apparently received where others completely missed it.
Dear teacher, your videos are both a trove of knowledge and a delight to watch. 4:17 _I've always believed that democracy is the best form of Government. So, I believed it in the past and I still believe it. Unfortunately, the world is still full of dictators but I'm a mere English teacher and there's not much I can do about that._ 😅😅😅 Thanks a lot for your fine humour!
Dear Gideon and friends, I'd like to know your opinion about this textbook exercise: Sarah’s family didn’t go(not go)away on holiday this year. They stayed (stay)at home. Sara is happy because her new neighbors are (be) very interesting people. After she broke (break)the ice, she discovered that they had (have) lots of stories to tell her about their lives.. For me, the past simple is ok(Sarah's family didn't go). A friend from Portugal told me that it is "Sarah's family hasn't gone" because "this year" is a time period that continues and we don't use the past simple with time periods that continue...Thanks for your help :)
As a Dutch speaker and teacher, I frequently have to explain the English rules to my students so that they can do their best to forget them :) The main difference is that Dutch, especially in its spoken form, has almost no rules at all. Often you can use both tenses interchangeably. You mentioned for example how important it is in English to use a past simple with a when question (when using a "past word"). In (spoken) Dutch you could use both without any particular difference, however, like in French, we would often use the present perfect. Yesterday, I went to Paris Gisteren ben ik naar Parijs gegaan (PP) Hier, je suis allé à Paris (PP) ("gisteren ging ik naar Parijs", PS, [ging = went], would also work but it is less common. No difference in meaning though...)
I’ve been studying German for the past 2 years and this video actually helped me understand past tenses in German a bit more😂 but I never realized how similar German and Dutch sort of are until I read your comment
@@startledmilk6670 the thing is that you shouldn't try to understand it! :) For many Dutch speakers, like I tried to explain with the little example, there is no difference in meaning between : Ik ben naar Parijs gegaan (I've gone to Paris) Ik ging naar Parijs (I went to Paris) The first one (simple past) is used more in writing, more in story telling... I don't know if that's the same for German though...
@@mehdiwadoud8098 I somehow doubt that. First of all, the Germanic languages obviously don't descend from Latin so they cannot "misuse" the Latin grammar. 2nd, of all Romance languages, French itself is the most Germanic in its structure. That's why I would say: "je suis allé hier", and not "j'allais" (imparfait) or, even worse, "j'allai" (passé simple) (There's actually a lot of old Dutch influence in French, like the double negation, the use of the personal pronouns, and yes, probably also the use of the perfectum.... Since the Franks originally came from what today is Belgium and the southern part of the Netherlands, all of this isn't that strange of course)
@@torrawel I could understand that just fine. In German it would be “Ich habe nach Paris gegangen.” Then “Ich ging nach Paris” German doesn’t use “to be” in the simple past very often, it’s saved for major changes of consciousness or being. There’s a written only past tense in German with different conjugation.
It's funny because this is also a difference that is a bit confusing in Spanish. Usually speakers from Spain will use the opposite conjugation than in some Latin American countries. So in Spain, "I saw the incident" would be "yo he visto el incidente" but in Chile/Argentina it would be "yo vi el incidente".
Hi Gideon, your videos are always amazing and very interesting and of course very useful. I like they way you explain the grammar. and since this lesson is about grammar, I have a grammar questions that made me confused. In this video your gust said (when talking about the job in wimbly ) .... in a way it probably worked out for the best because otherwise you could have been doing that job now...why he didn't say "otherwise you COULD BE DOING that job now" . Another question, when you gave an example of cleaned and have cleaned You said I cleaned the apartment last month before the guests came.... so because you used the word before, i feel the grammatically correct sentence would be "I had cleaned the apartment last month before the guests came". I would be grateful if you explain these pieces of grammar. Cheers
Native of the U. S. here. If I could remember the part of the video in which the job was mentioned, I would be more sure, but I think "COULD BE doing" would be correct if they were speaking about an alternate outcome dependent upon whether a specific condition existed. The following might work as well, though each is subtly different: "otherwise you MIGHT HAVE BEEN doing" or "otherwise you WOULD BE doing". To your second question I can be sure I know the answer. The word "before" is being used in a different way here. If "before" meant "in my past" then your suggestion would be right - "I have cleaned the apartment before." However, here "before" means "earlier than" relative to when the guests arrived. In this case you would say, "I cleaned it before they came."
As a native speaker of English from the United States, it is definitely very common for us to use the simple past tense in place of the present perfect tense in quite a few instances. For example, if I'm in a situation with friends where I've lost my keys, I would probably say, "Oh, no. I lost my keys. Can you help me find them?" I probably wouldn't say, "Oh, no. I've (I have) lost my keys. Can you help me find them?" Another example: I would say, "I bought a new car. Would you like to see it?" I probably wouldn't say, "I've (I have) bought a new car. Do you want to see it? To American ears "I have lost my keys" or "I have bought a new car" sounds a little formal and old-fashioned, almost like one is calling everyone over to make a formal proclamation.
Thanks for your input. From my learner point of view, English speaker doesn't use present simple as a base tense in daily life talking as we assume from what we're taught in basic English class. It's more of the past tense usage. My language needs no tense variation.
Dear JLKeener, I'd like to know your opinion about this textbook exercise: Sarah’s family didn’t go(not go)away on holiday this year. They stayed (stay)at home. Sara is happy because her new neighbors are (be) very interesting people. After she broke (break)the ice, she discovered that they had (have) lots of stories to tell her about their lives.. For me, the past simple is ok(Sarah's family didn't go). A friend from Portugal told me that it is "Sarah's family hasn't gone" because "this year" is a time period that continues and we don't use the past simple with time periods that continue...Thanks for your help :)
I know the pipeline is still too long for that present we use to talk about the past! I can't hold my breath any longer! Now, you couldn't tell us the difference between the * over the weekend * and * at the weekend * could you by any chance ? If you did, I promise you I will be a fan and friend for a lifetime..
Ok, fair enough. I think they are extremely similar "at the weekend" is a bit more British. I'd say Let's meet "at the weekend". I think over the weekend has more the idea of a start and end time. "I painted my apartment over the weekend"
Dear Gideon, thank you so much for your wonderful videos! Could you tell me why Jon used the Past Simple Tense with "once" being used as an adverb at the end of the sentence (there were two examples). Isn't it more correct to use the Present Perfect in those sentences with the meaning "one time". I do agree that if we switch the position of this adverb (e.g. after the first auxiliary) and imply that this action doesn't take place any longer, we can use the Past Simple tense. So is it more correct to use the Present Perfect (e.g. in the sentence with snails), or is it only the matter of a variant of word order which is flexible?
My favorite example is what Clive James said in a Parisian nightclub: "I felt like a visitor from another planet, which I guess I WAS, and always HAVE BEEN." - try expressing that sentiment in a language without the "past simple/present perfect" option.
In German: "Ich fühlte mich wie ein Besucher von einem anderen Planeten, der ich wohl auch war und schon immer gewesen bin." I guess there are only very few language out there which could not do this sentence. In the opposite there are a lot of language which can express everything in a more detailed way. For example, Hungarian has e. g. 18 cases.
@@lennat24 But German has "war" and "bin gewesen". So it's very similar to English. But Slavic languages do not, or have lost the "have + past tense" construction. Of course you can express the same sentiment, but not with the same grace and economy of language.
Thank you for your lesson! Very helpful. I have a little question. Can I say "I've read this book for two weeks" instead of "I've been reading this book for two weeks", or will the first one mean completion of the book even with "for + a period of time"?
It doesn't mean a finished action in the first sentence, but it sounds really odd. I think it's much better to use a present perfect cont. with active verbs, and especially verbs showing an action in progress. You started reading a book 2 weeks ago, and you are STILL reading it, it's a progressive process. At least, that's what I think 😉 and how I've seen it in books after these 18 years teaching English🍀
it sounds pretty passable to me, but I live in the States so that's a different English in some respects. I may say "I've watched this show for the past month" and if I had a chance to speak more clearly I would say "I've been watching". Your example sounds okay, but not really proper.
Thank you very much. Being a dutch speaker I find this very hard to grasp! All the examples of wrong uses sound perfectly normal to me... so, starting the de-programming as of now lol
Enlightening as always! Might I suggest that you explain the use of the word "haven't" when it's used for possession? For example, 'I haven't any brothers'. I know it is a trifle old-fashioned, but it would be interesting to hear some explanation :) You could also mention 'know not', 'care not', 'needn't', etc. Thank you in advance, teacher!
I've always had problems regarding this very topic. When I first watched this video earlier today, I decided to watch it again later on. Now that I have, it's time to practise im afraid.
"I recently did it" sounds better and more appropriate to my ears. I find that deleting the phrase "I have" makes phrases, whether written or spoken, sound more precise.
Great lesson, thank you guys!! I'll use these questions to ask and answer myself (it sounds sad now that I say it... but still, good practice!). "Where did the escar go?" 😆
It's quite exciting to have access to these rules, rich content, it was well explained as always 🎯... I wish I had a Gideon teacher at my school in the past.... The Q&A part is funny, getting to know a little bit about the peculiarity of each one...Gideon so glad you became an English teacher...🤠🇬🇧 Nice see you and Jon 🤩🤩
That is interesting - I don't think I have ever seen or heard someone say swum before. I looked it up and it is a real word. However, I am almost positive that in America one would say "I have never swam in the see before". I wonder if I am saying this wrong, or if this is something like vosotros, that is used in Britain but not America.
Although I passed " English Language " at O level [ in the 1950's when grammar was still considered as important ] I have never heard of the past simple. I've also studied French ( I'm designated " bilingual " by the Canadian Public service, and German ( O level ). As a result I understand the difference between imperfect, perfect, pluperfect, subjunctive, present, near future and future and conditional. It might help if in your video you explained at least some of these at the outset, because, very frankly I found it hard to relate the logic in each or your examples.
@@palfers1 Yes, there is - even I know that as non-native speaker of English. Or maybe you refer to "I have (!) made my point" differently with respect to its grammatical tense? 😉
Dear Sir, 8 months ago I watched the video when BBC journalist was interviewing Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko. The journalist speaks Russian even better than Lukashenko however, at some points I could hear that he is not native Russian speaker. For a student it is good to know how he learned the language.
"Perhaps the most famous person I have ever met IS President Jimmy Carter". I would have used WAS there. Am I wrong? Does it have to do with Carter still alive? Please explain.
Hi Gideon, I just wanted to tell you something curious. I am argentinian and I live in Israel in a Macabean city and the street where I live is called Maaleh Gideon. I've been following you for a very short time and I don't know if you talked about the Biblical/Hebrew origin of your name. Shalom ! Armando.
# Good afternoon professor! I would to call you professor for you are experienced and deserve the title! I have a concern that has nothing to do with this lesson but please enable me to present it to you! My question is to know the difference between BACK TO and BACK IN ??
10:35 I'd expect "I've done a half-marathon once" here. Why Past Simple, when it's about experience without linking it to a particular time? 11:11 "I've been fired from two different jobs" would be more appropriate, wouldn't it? 14:18 the same...
The difference is when using past simple you're only focusing on that event and when using the present perfect you're focusing on the possibility of repetition or you think it's relevant to the present. There's a slightly difference in meaning in all of these cases you mentioned
1. Question: This is how I decide 'whether time is important or whether action is important' rather than thinking about areas of use. Does this make sense? Otherwise, I can not speak at all. Thanks! 2. Question: when a round is over in the game we are talking about that round. If we don't emphasize 'time' at all, then would it be more correct to use 'Present perfect Tense'? For example: Bro, I've seen you behind the door why haven't you given info us? It hasn't been proper behavior at all. Bro, I saw you behind the door why didn't you give info us? It wasn't proper behavior at all.
I find it confusing sometimes that past events are narrated in the written form in the present tense, for example recent news or plots from a play or film, or when people from a long time ago said something.
It's also common in Spanish (at least in my variaty. I'm from Argentina) I sometimes use the present tense to tell something that's happened to me. But I prefer to use the past simple most of the time.
12:02 "I've studied it, so I have read it, but perhaps not in my spare time." There's a time expression but he still uses present perfect. What's up with that? Maybe he didn't know he will say a time expression?
5:18 there is a mistake, you said, "I baked you a cake yesterday. No that's wrong " incrusted subtitles don't match what you said I think the wrong sentence is "I have baked you a cake yesterday" here I'm OK that's wrong, please confirm teacher!
Good point. I perhaps should have mentioned that. "in the past year" is unfinished time. It includes the past and up to now so you'd use the present perfect.
So which British dialect is it that commonly uses the present perfect, where the past simple would be called for? We hear this in a lot of traditional folk songs, e.g. "He's *taken* his sword and..." instead of "He *took* his sword and..."? Catherine Tate's "Sam" character in the "Paul and Sam" sketches also speaks this way. As here: ua-cam.com/video/-YKrpzKELJU/v-deo.html "You know what *I've* done... *I've* suddenly realised"... rather than "You know what I *did*.. I suddenly realized" -- what sort of regional accent is she doing? By the way I had to turn on the subtitles to understand the word "Peugeot". Had no idea what he was saying.
So you say "I've never run a marathon but I did a half marathon". Why you do not say "...but I have done a half-marathon". My understanding is that a half-marathon run is also an experience so why do you use past simple there? Is that a rule that when you use but then you switch to PS? Or is it because Jon adds "...in the past"?
Ah yes, a subject that often brings quite some confusion to English learners. The examples in the last couple of minutes were as clear as they can be. Well done as always.
many thanks
I recommend you be nominated for the Nobel prize
for being the best English teacher not just on youtube but on earth. I have been learning from you for many years.
p.s.
All the other English teachers are good, very good without a doubt.
May God bless them all for teaching us English, but you are the best.
Oy! Nobel Prize? Not hardly. Al Gore and Barack Obama are Nobel Prize winners and they're ignorant communists. Gideon, on the other hand, is brilliant. A Nobel Prize is well beneath him. We give the Nobel Prize to monkeys - not geniuses.
The Nobel prize is given to people who make new discoveries in science. I don't think this qualifies.
I’m so delighted I came across your channel one day. The more I live, the more I get to know about Present Perfect and Past Simple 😂 Dude, it’s been like over 10 years of studies, but there’s always smth new dang it😂 Thank you so much!
We never stop learning.
@@LetThemTalkTV 1лгр
English is my 1st foreign language, I've started learning it about 40yrs ago. For whatever reason I mostly get the grammar right just by the seat of my pants. Now it is my daughter who starts with English and I have to re-learn all the proper explanations - which a video like this is super helpful for.
I really appreciate your work❤ Great explanations as always😊
Thanks to you for this content, I'm starting to watch it feeling regret that my understanding of Spanish grammar is more clear than English, despite that English was my first foreign language that I've learned.
Gideon thanks a lot for this explanation. My wife who is British wasn't able to explain to me the difference between the two. I make mistakes quite often. Being French it is to me one of the hardest part of English grammar to master (verb modality), phrasal verbs comes second.
As a french, it took me several years when I was younger to understand the difference, as we lost it in the french language, 1 or 2 centuries ago. In modern oral french we only use the present perfect as the only past tense, and the simple present as the normal present tense.
That’s why you have such a huge discrepancy between the spoken language and the written French. Written French has a terribly complex grammar, I daresay even more complex than Latin. But in the spoken language, on se fout de presque tout 🤓
I really enjoyed your post. It is one of the best I've ever heard.
I use these three rules for the Past Simple:
1. Action is finished
2. Time referred to, not necessarily specified or exact as many grammar books say.
3. Time is finished
For example:
Yesterday, I played football.
I went to Greece on my vacation.
Dinosaurs walked on the Earth 60 million years ago.
I went to George Washington High School.
I hope that is helpful.
I am going to give your video to my students as a great example
Thanks!
your teaching is outstanding! Thank you so much!!!
Excelent, excelent video!!!
A great lesson about Present Perfect and Simple Past tenses!
Greetings from Argentina!!!
Glad you liked it
I simply love this video! The present perfect forms of verbs is one of my pet peeves and the one that makes me the craziest is the once where you ask if John had ever run a marathon. Almost everybody I know would ask, "Have you ever ran a marathon?" That kind of thing drives me up a wall!
"Have you ever drove to Florida?" GAAA!!! "Have you ever driven to Florida?"
This video has confirmed my righteous indignation :) I'm not that smart and I was always a very poor student but that part of my education I apparently received where others completely missed it.
Best explination ever. Thank you very much.
This is fun! Isn't it so cool to learn any language in this way! I have experienced "nativeness" while engaging in it.
Dear teacher, your videos are both a trove of knowledge and a delight to watch.
4:17
_I've always believed that democracy is the best form of Government. So, I believed it in the past and I still believe it. Unfortunately, the world is still full of dictators but I'm a mere English teacher and there's not much I can do about that._
😅😅😅
Thanks a lot for your fine humour!
You are a great teacher 🤗 you make me understand perfectly well 😮
Great explanations. I've talked with people that get confused between present perfect and past perfect.
Simply superb !
Marvelous! Thanks for the explanation.
Thank you very much.
It was very useful!
Dear Gideon and friends, I'd like to know your opinion about this textbook exercise: Sarah’s family didn’t go(not go)away on holiday this year. They stayed (stay)at home. Sara is happy because her new neighbors are (be) very interesting people. After she broke (break)the ice, she discovered that they had (have) lots of stories to tell her about their lives..
For me, the past simple is ok(Sarah's family didn't go). A friend from Portugal told me that it is "Sarah's family hasn't gone" because "this year" is a time period that continues and we don't use the past simple with time periods that continue...Thanks for your help :)
Perfect!! I love it!
Thank you, thank you, thank you for an extremely useful, deep lesson.!
As a Dutch speaker and teacher, I frequently have to explain the English rules to my students so that they can do their best to forget them :)
The main difference is that Dutch, especially in its spoken form, has almost no rules at all. Often you can use both tenses interchangeably.
You mentioned for example how important it is in English to use a past simple with a when question (when using a "past word"). In (spoken) Dutch you could use both without any particular difference, however, like in French, we would often use the present perfect.
Yesterday, I went to Paris
Gisteren ben ik naar Parijs gegaan (PP)
Hier, je suis allé à Paris (PP)
("gisteren ging ik naar Parijs", PS, [ging = went], would also work but it is less common. No difference in meaning though...)
I’ve been studying German for the past 2 years and this video actually helped me understand past tenses in German a bit more😂 but I never realized how similar German and Dutch sort of are until I read your comment
Germanic languages are misusing the pefekt (latin) tense
English is an exeption due to higher french/influence
@@startledmilk6670 the thing is that you shouldn't try to understand it! :)
For many Dutch speakers, like I tried to explain with the little example, there is no difference in meaning between :
Ik ben naar Parijs gegaan (I've gone to Paris)
Ik ging naar Parijs (I went to Paris)
The first one (simple past) is used more in writing, more in story telling...
I don't know if that's the same for German though...
@@mehdiwadoud8098 I somehow doubt that. First of all, the Germanic languages obviously don't descend from Latin so they cannot "misuse" the Latin grammar.
2nd, of all Romance languages, French itself is the most Germanic in its structure. That's why I would say: "je suis allé hier", and not "j'allais" (imparfait) or, even worse, "j'allai" (passé simple)
(There's actually a lot of old Dutch influence in French, like the double negation, the use of the personal pronouns, and yes, probably also the use of the perfectum.... Since the Franks originally came from what today is Belgium and the southern part of the Netherlands, all of this isn't that strange of course)
@@torrawel I could understand that just fine. In German it would be “Ich habe nach Paris gegangen.”
Then
“Ich ging nach Paris”
German doesn’t use “to be” in the simple past very often, it’s saved for major changes of consciousness or being. There’s a written only past tense in German with different conjugation.
A very tricky tense for my esl students .Thank you for your help
Instant like. I really like the 2 of you. I learn and you are so awesome I feel great watching
You are awesome
It's funny because this is also a difference that is a bit confusing in Spanish. Usually speakers from Spain will use the opposite conjugation than in some Latin American countries. So in Spain, "I saw the incident" would be "yo he visto el incidente" but in Chile/Argentina it would be "yo vi el incidente".
It's the same difference between British and American English.
Hi Gideon, your videos are always amazing and very interesting and of course very useful. I like they way you explain the grammar. and since this lesson is about grammar, I have a grammar questions that made me confused. In this video your gust said (when talking about the job in wimbly ) .... in a way it probably worked out for the best because otherwise you could have been doing that job now...why he didn't say "otherwise you COULD BE DOING that job now" .
Another question, when you gave an example of cleaned and have cleaned You said I cleaned the apartment last month before the guests came.... so because you used the word before, i feel the grammatically correct sentence would be "I had cleaned the apartment last month before the guests came".
I would be grateful if you explain these pieces of grammar.
Cheers
Native of the U. S. here. If I could remember the part of the video in which the job was mentioned, I would be more sure, but I think "COULD BE doing" would be correct if they were speaking about an alternate outcome dependent upon whether a specific condition existed. The following might work as well, though each is subtly different:
"otherwise you MIGHT HAVE BEEN doing" or "otherwise you WOULD BE doing".
To your second question I can be sure I know the answer. The word "before" is being used in a different way here. If "before" meant "in my past" then your suggestion would be right - "I have cleaned the apartment before." However, here "before" means "earlier than" relative to when the guests arrived. In this case you would say, "I cleaned it before they came."
Best video on Present perfect and simple past...Ta, Gideon...
As a native speaker of English from the United States, it is definitely very common for us to use the simple past tense in place of the present perfect tense in quite a few instances. For example, if I'm in a situation with friends where I've lost my keys, I would probably say, "Oh, no. I lost my keys. Can you help me find them?" I probably wouldn't say, "Oh, no. I've (I have) lost my keys. Can you help me find them?" Another example: I would say, "I bought a new car. Would you like to see it?" I probably wouldn't say, "I've (I have) bought a new car. Do you want to see it? To American ears "I have lost my keys" or "I have bought a new car" sounds a little formal and old-fashioned, almost like one is calling everyone over to make a formal proclamation.
Thanks for your input. From my learner point of view, English speaker doesn't use present simple as a base tense in daily life talking as we assume from what we're taught in basic English class. It's more of the past tense usage. My language needs no tense variation.
Dear JLKeener, I'd like to know your opinion about this textbook exercise: Sarah’s family didn’t go(not go)away on holiday this year. They stayed (stay)at home. Sara is happy because her new neighbors are (be) very interesting people. After she broke (break)the ice, she discovered that they had (have) lots of stories to tell her about their lives..
For me, the past simple is ok(Sarah's family didn't go). A friend from Portugal told me that it is "Sarah's family hasn't gone" because "this year" is a time period that continues and we don't use the past simple with time periods that continue...Thanks for your help :)
"It" is not a native speaker. You have a dangling modifier there.
I really like your videos. Thank you for the great job you do. I really appreciate you.
Gideon, elated to see you again.
I know the pipeline is still too long for that present we use to talk about the past! I can't hold my breath any longer! Now, you couldn't tell us the difference between the * over the weekend * and * at the weekend * could you by any chance ? If you did, I promise you I will be a fan and friend for a lifetime..
Ok, fair enough. I think they are extremely similar "at the weekend" is a bit more British. I'd say Let's meet "at the weekend". I think over the weekend has more the idea of a start and end time. "I painted my apartment over the weekend"
Please never stop making such helpful videos 😭😭
Dear Gideon, thank you so much for your wonderful videos! Could you tell me why Jon used the Past Simple Tense with "once" being used as an adverb at the end of the sentence (there were two examples). Isn't it more correct to use the Present Perfect in those sentences with the meaning "one time". I do agree that if we switch the position of this adverb (e.g. after the first auxiliary) and imply that this action doesn't take place any longer, we can use the Past Simple tense. So is it more correct to use the Present Perfect (e.g. in the sentence with snails), or is it only the matter of a variant of word order which is flexible?
My favorite example is what Clive James said in a Parisian nightclub: "I felt like a visitor from another planet, which I guess I WAS, and always HAVE BEEN." - try expressing that sentiment in a language without the "past simple/present perfect" option.
In German: "Ich fühlte mich wie ein Besucher von einem anderen Planeten, der ich wohl auch war und schon immer gewesen bin."
I guess there are only very few language out there which could not do this sentence.
In the opposite there are a lot of language which can express everything in a more detailed way.
For example, Hungarian has e. g. 18 cases.
@@lennat24 But German has "war" and "bin gewesen". So it's very similar to English. But Slavic languages do not, or have lost the "have + past tense" construction.
Of course you can express the same sentiment, but not with the same grace and economy of language.
@@SelfReflective Thanks for your explanation. I have no clue about Slavic languages in generel.
I would re-write the sentence to be: "I felt similar to a visitor from another planet, which I guess I was, and always will be."
This explanation is awesome))
Thank you ..
Thank you so much!
Good job!
Thank you for your explication it's very helpful and very easier
Thanks very usefull vidéo Gideon.... If only we have learn that in school in France... than you very much.
👌👌👌👌👌🙏
Thank you very much, Sir. It's a great help for me.
What about the "I baked a cake yesterday". It is shown as an error and then as the correct phrase (around 5:45)
These tenses have really got me struggling, i hope i'll be able to handle them better by the end of your video.
yes you will
I love your videos!😆
Thank you for your lesson! Very helpful. I have a little question. Can I say "I've read this book for two weeks" instead of "I've been reading this book for two weeks", or will the first one mean completion of the book even with "for + a period of time"?
It doesn't mean a finished action in the first sentence, but it sounds really odd. I think it's much better to use a present perfect cont. with active verbs, and especially verbs showing an action in progress. You started reading a book 2 weeks ago, and you are STILL reading it, it's a progressive process. At least, that's what I think 😉 and how I've seen it in books after these 18 years teaching English🍀
it sounds pretty passable to me, but I live in the States so that's a different English in some respects. I may say "I've watched this show for the past month" and if I had a chance to speak more clearly I would say "I've been watching". Your example sounds okay, but not really proper.
Thank you very much. Being a dutch speaker I find this very hard to grasp! All the examples of wrong uses sound perfectly normal to me... so, starting the de-programming as of now lol
Like the man said, always a pleasure. 😊
Enlightening as always! Might I suggest that you explain the use of the word "haven't" when it's used for possession? For example, 'I haven't any brothers'. I know it is a trifle old-fashioned, but it would be interesting to hear some explanation :)
You could also mention 'know not', 'care not', 'needn't', etc. Thank you in advance, teacher!
Your question about Have not/haven't will be answered in the next video.
@@LetThemTalkTV I am obliged to you more than I can express. Looking forward to it. Have a good day :)
Is this even a legit sentence?
@@ThePositiev3x yes, I'm from the US so it sounds absurd but I've heard it
I was a good lesson! I have understood very well 🤗
Hi, can you teach us how to understand and appreciated British humour? Thank you 🙏🏼
I've always had problems regarding this very topic. When I first watched this video earlier today, I decided to watch it again later on. Now that I have, it's time to practise im afraid.
Could you please make a episode on Training Needs Analysis?
With the adverb “recently”, which one should I use? I’ve recently done it or I recently did it?
"I recently did it" sounds better and more appropriate to my ears. I find that deleting the phrase "I have" makes phrases, whether written or spoken, sound more precise.
@@ARyan-yk9qh thank you 🙏 Greetings from Dubai…
Great lesson, thank you guys!! I'll use these questions to ask and answer myself (it sounds sad now that I say it... but still, good practice!).
"Where did the escar go?" 😆
It's quite exciting to have access to these rules, rich content, it was well explained as always 🎯... I wish I had a Gideon teacher at my school in the past.... The Q&A part is funny, getting to know a little bit about the peculiarity of each one...Gideon so glad you became an English teacher...🤠🇬🇧 Nice see you and Jon 🤩🤩
I'm you're teacher now...Many thanks
@@LetThemTalkTV Yes you are... I enjoy it a lot
@@LetThemTalkTV So, is it "So glad you've become an English teacher" ?
@@WoSarvatraHain How else might it be expressed then?
We are recording it in Paris and so I thought I'd ask you this'. Why not 'I've thought I ask you this' on 14:13?
👏👏👏
What does the "NP" represent on the tee shirt I just bought?
All bright-eyed and bushy-tailed - that's been me since I came across LTTTV channel.
Oh boy, was this lesson helpful!
That is interesting - I don't think I have ever seen or heard someone say swum before. I looked it up and it is a real word. However, I am almost positive that in America one would say "I have never swam in the see before". I wonder if I am saying this wrong, or if this is something like vosotros, that is used in Britain but not America.
This is my experience as well, I've never heard swum in America
can you make a video on punctuation?
Although I passed " English Language " at O level [ in the 1950's when grammar was still considered as important ] I have never heard of the past simple. I've also studied French ( I'm designated " bilingual " by the Canadian Public service, and German ( O level ). As a result I understand the difference between imperfect, perfect, pluperfect, subjunctive, present, near future and future and conditional. It might help if in your video you explained at least some of these at the outset, because, very frankly I found it hard to relate the logic in each or your examples.
That's because he's wrong. There is no "present perfect".
@@palfers1 Yes, there is - even I know that as non-native speaker of English.
Or maybe you refer to "I have (!) made my point" differently with respect to its grammatical tense? 😉
Dear Sir,
8 months ago I watched the video when BBC journalist was interviewing Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko.
The journalist speaks Russian even better than Lukashenko however, at some points I could hear that he is not native Russian speaker.
For a student it is good to know how he learned the language.
I have been learning english since last september.
Why has he said 'I thought they tasted interesting' in a past simple tense on 14:31? Wouldn't it be more correct to say it in present perfect tense?
"Perhaps the most famous person I have ever met IS President Jimmy Carter". I would have used WAS there. Am I wrong? Does it have to do with Carter still alive? Please explain.
Sorry, can you say books of Shakespeare?
I thought you should say by Shakespeare
Shakespeare never wrote any books: he wrote plays & poems. So you should say "Books of Shakespeare's plays or works."
Hi Gideon,
I just wanted to tell you something curious. I am argentinian and I live in Israel in a Macabean city and the street where I live is called Maaleh Gideon.
I've been following you for a very short time and I don't know if you talked about the Biblical/Hebrew origin of your name.
Shalom !
Armando.
Did you use to work for BBC Learning English ?
Sir, good evening ' he has been a teacher' means he was a teacher? Or he is a teacher till now?
# Good afternoon professor! I would to call you professor for you are experienced and deserve the title! I have a concern that has nothing to do with this lesson but please enable me to present it to you!
My question is to know the difference between BACK TO and BACK IN ??
Very great lesson 👍. Thank you so much Teacher!
You were right it's quite easy
indeed
10:35
I'd expect "I've done a half-marathon once" here. Why Past Simple, when it's about experience without linking it to a particular time?
11:11
"I've been fired from two different jobs" would be more appropriate, wouldn't it?
14:18 the same...
The difference is when using past simple you're only focusing on that event and when using the present perfect you're focusing on the possibility of repetition or you think it's relevant to the present. There's a slightly difference in meaning in all of these cases you mentioned
The exclamation "We did it!" It feels like Present perfect should be used, because there's no time indication, and there's obvious result.
You can say both in this situation.
We've done it! (You focus on the result)
We did it! (You focus on the finished action)
Swum. As an American speaker, swam is the more common pp. I use both, having had a Canadian mother mum.
Or, I swimmed....
I have used the word swum zero times, until today. Maybe in 3nglish class, but wouldn’t swam be preferred.
It was so difficult for me to get a handle on past perfect tense as it is not used in my language
👍👍👍
It annoys me when people say "I have went there."
So interesting, in the US we would more often say, “I baked you a cake” or “I cut my finger”, though the I’ve would also be correct.
1. Question:
This is how I decide 'whether time is important or whether action is important' rather than thinking about areas of use. Does this make sense? Otherwise, I can not speak at all. Thanks!
2. Question:
when a round is over in the game we are talking about that round. If we don't emphasize 'time' at all, then would it be more correct to use 'Present perfect Tense'?
For example: Bro, I've seen you behind the door why haven't you given info us? It hasn't been proper behavior at all.
Bro, I saw you behind the door why didn't you give info us? It wasn't proper behavior at all.
What is tense
I find it confusing sometimes that past events are narrated in the written form in the present tense, for example recent news or plots from a play or film, or when people from a long time ago said something.
It's also common in Spanish (at least in my variaty. I'm from Argentina) I sometimes use the present tense to tell something that's happened to me. But I prefer to use the past simple most of the time.
12:02 "I've studied it, so I have read it, but perhaps not in my spare time." There's a time expression but he still uses present perfect. What's up with that? Maybe he didn't know he will say a time expression?
Could you please explain me why did you use run not ran .rest every where you said like climbed ,fired...
5:18 there is a mistake, you said, "I baked you a cake yesterday. No that's wrong " incrusted subtitles don't match what you said I think
the wrong sentence is "I have baked you a cake yesterday" here I'm OK that's wrong, please confirm teacher!
I have been to Paris in the past year.
Good point. I perhaps should have mentioned that. "in the past year" is unfinished time. It includes the past and up to now so you'd use the present perfect.
@@LetThemTalkTV f*ck wow. I thot I was just peculiar… thx!
@@LetThemTalkTV thank u for responding!
So which British dialect is it that commonly uses the present perfect, where the past simple would be called for? We hear this in a lot of traditional folk songs, e.g. "He's *taken* his sword and..." instead of "He *took* his sword and..."?
Catherine Tate's "Sam" character in the "Paul and Sam" sketches also speaks this way. As here:
ua-cam.com/video/-YKrpzKELJU/v-deo.html
"You know what *I've* done... *I've* suddenly realised"... rather than "You know what I *did*.. I suddenly realized" -- what sort of regional accent is she doing?
By the way I had to turn on the subtitles to understand the word "Peugeot". Had no idea what he was saying.
Have any of you had been in Argentina? Sorry, May I make a question??
"Have had been" doesn't make sense in English. The correct question is: Have any of you been to Argentina? Sorry, may I ask a question?
Maybe you could explain IF vs WHETHER ... Even native speakers often get it wrong.
I done seen it
What I most commonly hear is “I seen it”.
You saved me
Germans confuse both tenses, influenced by their excessive present perfect use in their language.
I still carefull to use them( present perfect and past tense. I used both of them sometimes
Past simple - specific time in past
Present perfect - unspecified time before present
at about 7:50 - * but WE Brits (not us) use the present perfect tense , lol
So you say "I've never run a marathon but I did a half marathon". Why you do not say "...but I have done a half-marathon". My understanding is that a half-marathon run is also an experience so why do you use past simple there? Is that a rule that when you use but then you switch to PS? Or is it because Jon adds "...in the past"?
I would say that since "have" is present and "done" is past, you run into the issue presented in the video.