Present perfect or past simple?

What's in the lesson

1. 1Warm-up
2. 2In this lesson
3. 3Check the conversationListening comprehension
4. 4What does it mean?Grammar exercise
5. 5Find the finished timesGrammar exercise
6. 6Present perfect or past simple?Grammar rule
7. 7Which one?Grammar exercise
8. 8The travel blogGrammar exercise
9. 9Find the mistakeGrammar exercise
10. 10Questions for your teacherGrammar exercise
11. 11Say it naturallySpeaking practice
12. 12In the hostel kitchenSpeaking practice
13. 13About youGrammar exercise
14. 14Wrap-up

Homework

1. 1Homework: which question?Grammar exercise
2. 2Homework: EdinburghGrammar exercise
3. 3Homework: build the sentencesGrammar exercise
4. 4Homework: a travel storyDiscussion

Two slides from the lesson

Warm-up

A few questions about you before we start.

1. Have you ever stayed in a hostel? Would you like to?
2. When did you last travel somewhere new? Where did you go?
3. Do you enjoy talking to strangers when you travel?

Grammar rule

Present perfect or past simple?

	Present perfect: have / has + past participle	Past simple
Use	an experience: at some time in your life, up to now; when is not important	a finished time: we say or know when
Question	Have you ever been to Brazil?	When did you go? Who did you go with? How was it?
Time words	ever, never, before, once, twice, many times, so far (and just, already, yet)	yesterday, last night, last year, in 2022, two weeks ago, when I was ten

In a conversation

Ask or tell about the experience with the present perfect, then give the details with the past simple: "Have you ever eaten oysters?" "Yes, I have. I tried them in Boston last summer. They were delicious." Once the time is clear, the next sentences stay in the past simple, without a time word in each one.

Watch out: with a finished time or a When…? question, use the past simple: not I've been there last year, not When have you gone there?.

American English often uses the past simple for experiences too: Did you ever eat oysters? That is correct. But with a finished time, only the past simple is right.