Present Perfect vs Past Simple: Guía de Uso con Ejemplos y Vocabulario

PRESENT PERFECT

Estructura:
S + HAVE/HAS + PAST PARTICIPLE

I / You / We / They → HAVE
He / She / It → HAS

Regulares → -ed
Irregulares → 3.ª columna

(+) She has eaten.
(-) She hasn’t eaten.
(?) Has she eaten?

Usos

• Experiencias de vida sin decir cuándo.
• Acción que empezó en el pasado y continúa ahora.
• Acción pasada con resultado o importancia en el presente.
• Acciones recientes.

PAST SIMPLE

(+) verbo en pasado (2.ª columna / -ed)
(-) didn’t + infinitivo
(?) Did + sujeto + infinitivo?

He eats → He ate.
He didn’t eat.
Did he eat?

Uso: acción que empezó y terminó en el pasado; normalmente sabemos cuándo.

PRESENT PERFECT vs PAST SIMPLE

PS: momento pasado terminado o específico.
→ yesterday, last night / week / year, ago, in 2020, when I was…, last summer.

PP: no decimos exactamente cuándo; conecta el pasado con el presente.
→ ever, never, already, just, yet, since, for, how long, lately.

Palabras clave del Present Perfect

• EVER = alguna vez. Se usa en preguntas sobre experiencias.
  Have you ever been abroad?
• NEVER = nunca.
  I’ve never been abroad.
• JUST = recién / acaba de.
  HAVE/HAS + JUST + participio
  I’ve just finished.
• ALREADY = ya. Generalmente en afirmativas.
  HAVE/HAS + ALREADY + participio
  I’ve already finished.
• YET = ya / todavía. Generalmente al final.
  Pregunta → ¿ya? Have you finished yet?
  Negativa → todavía no. I haven’t finished yet.
• SINCE = desde + punto de inicio.
  since 2020 / Monday / last year / I was five
• FOR = durante / desde hace + período.
  for 2 years / 3 months / a week
• HOW LONG = cuánto tiempo.
  How long have you lived here?

VOCABULARIO UNIT 6

• travel abroad = viajar al extranjero
• rent a flat = alquilar un departamento
• apply to university = postularse / anotarse en la universidad
• pass an exam = aprobar un examen
• driving licence = licencia de conducir
• open a bank account = abrir una cuenta bancaria
• credit card = tarjeta de crédito
• do a bungee jump = hacer bungee jumping
• go hiking = hacer senderismo
• use a treadmill = usar la cinta para correr
• join a club = unirse a un club
• train = entrenar
• half marathon = media maratón
• fitness = estado físico
• relative = pariente
• cousin = primo/a
• aunt = tía
• uncle = tío
• grandma = abuela
• grandad = abuelo
• twins = gemelos
• childhood = infancia
• grow up = crecer
• be born = nacer
• get married = casarse
• family tradition = tradición familiar
• leave school = terminar / dejar la escuela
• attend school = asistir a la escuela
• homework = tarea
• business = negocio / empresa
• job = trabajo
• message = mensaje

PARTICIPIOS IMPORTANTES

• be → was/were → been
• go → went → gone
• see → saw → seen
• do → did → done
• eat → ate → eaten
• drink → drank → drunk
• take → took → taken
• know → knew → known
• buy → bought → bought
• give → gave → given
• write → wrote → written
• read → read → read
• find → found → found
• leave → left → left
• hear → heard → heard
• meet → met → met
• come → came → come
• run → ran → run
• make → made → made
• get → got → got
• have → had → had
• pay → paid → paid