Present perfect vs past simple

Two ways to look at the past

• Both tenses talk about the past — but in different ways.
• Past simple = a finished time. Present perfect = connected to now.
• I saw it yesterday. / I have seen it.

I lost my keys yesterday; I have found three old receipts since.

Finished time → past simple

• Use the past simple with a finished past time.
• yesterday, last week, in 2019, two days ago.
• We met in 2018. She called an hour ago.

Connected to now → present perfect

• Use the present perfect to look back from now, for example when describing experience up to now or a result that matters now. A finished past-time phrase needs a different viewpoint.
• I have visited Japan. He has just left.
• It matters now — the result or the experience. Past simple can also describe recent events, especially in American English; being recent does not force a perfect form.

Clues, not automatic switches

• Past simple: yesterday, … ago, last …, in 2019.
• Words such as already, ever and for are clues, not tense rules by themselves. Compare I lived there for a year (a finished period) with I have lived here for a year (a period reaching now).
• In ordinary standard usage, do not attach yesterday or an hour ago directly to the present-perfect event: say I finished it yesterday.

Common mistakes

• To ask the time of one completed arrival, use When did you arrive? A different question, such as When have you ever arrived early?, can use present perfect; the word when itself does not ban it.
• ❌ This is the first time I go here. → ✓ …the first time I have been here.
• I finished just now and I have just finished are useful patterns. I just finished is also common, especially in American English. Read the context rather than choosing from just alone.

Grammar guidance checked 2026-10-19: British Council, present perfect.