Hello Go Natural English learners, how are you today? I'm your English teacher
Gabby and in this free English lesson
I'm going to show you some examples of the simple
past tense versus present perfect because
I know this is a confusing point in English.
These examples will help to clarify the way
that native speakers use these two different
tenses in natural English conversation
the way people really talk, not your textbook English.
Now this lesson a sneak preview
of what you'll find inside the Go Natural English Premium
Course, Fluent Communication where we talk
a lot about different structures and how to use them naturally.
It's not just a grammar course but it's much
much more. So you can learn more about that at GoNaturalEnglish.com/PremiumGNE
GoNaturalEnglish.com/PremiumGNE
OK, so let me share these examples with you. I
have three different examples behind me.
We're going to take a look at what happens when I make sentences
with had or with have had.
Let's take a look at the first one. Two cups of coffee.
I'm enjoying my second cup of coffee right now.
If I told you
"I've had two cups of coffee today so far."
That would make the most sense because I'm still enjoying my coffee.
Right now. But after I drink my coffee
I could say, "I had two cups of coffee
today." For example, in conversation
maybe you ask me, "Gabby, would you like to have a cup of coffee?"
I might say, "Thank you, but I
have already had two cups of coffee today." Why would I
say that? Even after I'm done drinking I can say that
because my answer is related to your
current present question.
I'm relating what happened in the past, I drank two cups of coffee, that's a lot,
to the present. That's why I'm using the present perfect.
Now it's OK to say, "No thank you,
I had two cups of coffee." But it's not really natural. I mean
I would understand what you're saying, but it's really not the best option
out of the two options we have here. Ok next
allergies! Ok, this is true, I've been struggling with
allergies this season, unfortunately. Did you hear what I said?
I've been struggling with allergies. So recently
and still at this moment, I've been
having a problem with allergies or I've been struggling
with allergies. I'm just feeling better
today but the last few days like yesterday
I was almost better, 90%. Today I would say
I'm 99% better but still I'm having a little bit
of problems with allergies, you know, stuffy nose, a little
cough. It's not very fun to have allergies.
Now, when I was traveling last month
I was in Brazil. I traveled to Brazil and I
had allergies in Brazil, too.
This is the past. I'm talking about a trip that occured
in the past. I'm talking about last month, so I can say I
had allergies. Now if you ask me
"Gabby, do you usually have allergies?" I could say
"Yeah, I've had allergies" in the past. Because
I'm relating my experience in the past to your present
question. (I can also simply say "Yes I generally have problems with allergies" using the present simple). Now, finally
a good idea. I've had so many good ideas over
my lifetime. I
could say "I've had so many good ideas."
Recently I've been feeling very inspired.
When you're in a conversation
and you want to interrupt or interject an idea
you could say, "I had an idea!
We could... go get some more coffee."
Or, "I had an idea. Why don't we...
blah blah blah blah." Ok so to
enter a conversation it's natural
to say, "I had an idea." Or
it's very natural also to say "I have an idea!" in the
present tense but in this video we're talking about the past
tense versus the present perfect. So you could say
"I had an idea!" or "I have an idea." to enter a conversation.
If I was talking about my past I
could say, "I had a good idea" or
"I had what I thought was a good idea"
"I thought it would be a good idea
to not use sunscreen
because I wanted to get some color on my skin but
then I got a sunburn" so I put that idea
in the past tense. "I had what I thought
was a good idea." It changed. It
I thought it was a good idea in the past, but
I realized it wasn't. That's why I used the past tense.
OK. I hope that these examples are helpful. I think the best
thing that you can do is 1, of course join the Fluent
Communication course at GoNaturalEnglish.com under the
Premium Courses area, but 2, really
flood yourself with examples. Look
at examples of all different tenses in
English, especially from native speakers, especially from real
conversations. That's what we do at Go Natural English in our Premium Courses.
I show you examples in conversations, not only from me
but also with other native English speakers. So it's really
important to observe and through observing
through lots of examples and focusing on the differences
then you'll have a much clearer
understanding of how to use these two tenses
differently. So if you enjoyed this lesson then
like it, leave a comment, share it, subscribe
do all these good things and I hope to see you
soon inside our course, Fluent Communication. Alright
bye for now!