Grammar

Talking about the past

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Do you want to talk about experiences you’ve had, tell a good or funny story, or talk about something you regret in the past?

We use the present perfect for something that started in the past and continues in the present:

  • We have lived here since 2017. [and we still live here]
  • I have been working at the university for over ten years.

We also use it for something that happened in the past but is important in the present:

  • I can’t open the door. I‘ve left my keys in the car.
  • Jenny has found a new job. She works in a supermarket now.

Be careful! We do not use the present perfect with words which refer to a finished past time:

  • I have seen that film yesterday.
  • We have just bought a new car last week.
  • When we were children we have been to California.

But we can use the present perfect with words which refer to a time which is not yet finished:

  • Have you seen Helen today?
  • We have bought a new car this week.

However, as soon as you mention a time, you need to switch to a past tense. For example:

  • I went windsurfing three years ago.
  • I didn’t drink a lot last night.
  • Did you eat a lot of sushi when you were in Japan?

For this reason, when you’re talking about life experiences, you often start with the present perfect, and then switch to a past tense when you mention a specific time.

For example, someone might ask you, Have you ever been to Australia?

You might answer, Yes, I went there two years ago, for my friend’s wedding.

The question is present perfect, because it’s asking about experiences without mentioning a time. The answer mentions a time—two years ago—and so you need the past simple.

There are past structures which you can use to show a difference between the past and the present:

USED TO

You can use used to to talk about something which was true in the past, but isn’t true now. For example:

  • He used to have a beard. –> He had a beard in the past, but he doesn’t have one now.
  • I used to live in Berlin. –> I lived in Berlin in the past, but I don’t live there now.

You can also use the negative form—didn’t use to—to talk about things that weren’t true in the past, but are true now. For example:

  • They didn’t use to get on so well. –> They didn’t get on well in the past, but they do now.
  • I didn’t use to wear glasses. –> I wear glasses now, but I didn’t in the past.

You can also make questions:

  • Did you use to play a musical instrument?
  • Didn’t he use to work here?

WOULD

You can also use would to talk about actions or habits which you did in the past, but you don’t do now.

Would is the past tense of will. We use it when we talk about the future in the past. For example:

  • He thought he would buy one the next day.
  • Everyone was excited. The party would be fun.

WAS/WERE GOING TO

Was/were going to, also refers to the future in the past:

  • John was going to drive and Mary was going to follow on her bicycle.
  • It was Friday. We were going to set off the next day.

We also use the past continuous to talk about the future from a time in the past.

  • It was September. Mary was starting school the next week.
  • We were very busy. Our guests were arriving soon and we had to get their room ready.

ANY MORE

Finally, you can also use a present verb plus any more. This has a similar meaning to used to. Let’s look:

  • She doesn’t live here any more. –> She lived here in the past, but she doesn’t live here now.
  • I don’t have time to listen to music any more. –> I had time in the past, but now I don’t.

‘SET THE SCENE’ WITH PAST CONTINUOUS

‘SET THE SCENE’ means you need to describe the background of the story. What was happening at the start of the story? Who was there, and what were the people in your story doing at the start?

To give background to a story, you use the past continuous. For example:

  • We were sitting on the bus, ready to leave.
  • It was raining so hard you couldn’t even see out of the window.

This isn’t just useful when you’re telling long stories; you can use this any time you’re giving a slightly longer answer about the past.

However, if you do want to tell a longer story, there are some other things you’ll need to know.

SHOW THE SEQUENCE OF EVENTS IN THE PAST

When you start a story, you usually say when these things took place. You’ll say something like:

  • Last week…
  • This happened two years ago, in summer.
  • So, yesterday, I was walking down the street…

This time reference ‘fixes’ the time when your story starts.

PAST PERFECT

We use the past perfect when we are looking back from a point in the past to something earlier in the past.

For example:

  • Helen suddenly remembered she had left her keys in the car.
  • When we had done all our shopping, we caught the bus home.
  • They wanted to buy a new computer, but they hadn’t saved enough money.
  • They would have bought a new computer if they had saved enough money.

Use the past perfect to talk about things that happened before the start of the story.

Let’s see another example:

  • When I was 25, I quit my job and decided to train as a pilot. I had always wanted to learn to fly.

Here, you have a time reference which ‘fixes’ the start of the story: when I was 25.

If you’re talking about the events of your story, just use the past simple, like this:

  • We drove out of the test centre.
  • We sat in a traffic jam for ages.
  • I had a small accident on the way home.

Using these verb tenses, you can make it clear when things happened in the past, and whether something happened before or after something else.

THE PAST WITH MODAL VERBS

Could – the past tense of can:

  • You could get a good meal for a pound when I was a boy.

Would – the past tense of will:

  • He said he would come but he forgot.

May have, might have and could have 

To show that something has possibly happened in the past:

  • I’ll telephone him. He might have got home early.
  • She’s very late. She could have missed her train.

Should have – the past form of should

  • I didn’t know he was ill. He should have told me.
  • You shouldn’t have spent so much money.

Would have and could have

We use would have and could have to talk about something that was possible in the past but did not happen:

  • I could have gone to Mexico for my holiday but it was too expensive.
  • I would have called you, but I had forgotten my phone.
  • They would have gone out if the weather had been better.

TALKING ABOUT REGRETS IN THE PAST

There are three different forms you can use to talk about regrets in the past:

Wish

You can use wish plus the past perfect to talk about something you regret. For example:

  • I wish I’d learned other languages when I was younger.
  • I wish I hadn’t said that.

Remember that here you’re talking about the opposite of what really happened. If you say I wish I hadn’t said that, you did say something in reality, and now you regret it.

If only

You can also use if only plus the past perfect, like this:

  • If only I’d kept my Spanish going.
  • If only I hadn’t wasted so much time.

The meaning is very similar to wish: you did something, or didn’t do something, in the past, and now you regret it.

Could have

Finally, you can sometimes use could have to express regrets in the past, often as part of a longer if-sentence. For example:

  • I could have tried harder.
  • If I hadn’t left things to the last minute, I could have passed easily.

Now that you have already seen the words, phrases, and structures you need to talk about the past in clear, fluent English, the next step to improve your conversation and grammar skills is to practice!

Start by testing your understanding of the lesson with this quiz. Next, you can listen to the complete lesson.

Present perfect

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O present perfect simple é utilizado para descrever algo que aconteceu no passado, e possui uma relação com o presente.

O tempo em que a ação ocorreu não é importante, por isso não é especificado.

Geralmente estamos mais interessados no resultado do que na própria ação.

O present perfect de qualquer verbo é formado pela forma apropriada do verbo auxiliar to have (no presente) e o past participle do verbo principal. 

Afirmativa: You have walked.

Negativa: You haven’t walked.

Interrogativa: Have you walked?

O present perfect é utilizado para descrever:

Uma ação ou situação iniciada no passado e que permanece no presente

I have lived in Bristol since 1984. (e continuo morando)

She has worked in the bank for five years. (e continua trabalhando)

Quando se faz referência a um período de tempo não concluído

She has been to the cinema twice this week.  (e a semana ainda não acabou)

It has rained a lot this year. (e o ano ainda não acabou)

Ações repetidas em um período não específico entre o passado e o presente

We have visited Portugal several times.

She has visited them frequently.

Uma ação concluída, indicada pelos termos ‘already’, ‘just’ e ‘yet’.

Already indica ‘algo que aconteceu mais cedo do que o esperado‘:

The movie only came out yesterday, but I have already seen it.

Just significa ‘há pouco tempo atrás‘:

I have just finished my work.

Yet é usado apenas em perguntas e sentenças negativas. Refere-se a ‘algo que é esperado acontecer‘:

Have you finished the report yet?
No, I haven’t finished it yet.

E quando o período exato da ação é irrelevante ou desconhecido

He has read ‘War and Peace’. (o resultado da leitura é importante)

Someone has eaten my soup! (não há sopa para mim)

What Have You Done GIFs | Tenor

Assista este vídeo, que mostra o caminho inverso, a visão de alguém aprendendo português: “O inglês e o espanhol têm este tempo verbal mas o português não, então para mim foi um desafio aprender como expressá-lo ao aprender português!”

Anote os exemplos, e veja onde eles se encaixam nas categorias mostradas acima.

O diagrama seguinte, ilustra o intervalo de tempo envolvido na ação reportada através do present perfect, e o tempo definido na ação reportada através do simple past.

A seguir, veja como formar o present perfect.

Agora pratique!

Simple Past

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Verbs come in three tenses: present, past, and future.

The present tense is used to to talk about things in general. We can use it to describe actions that happen frequently or situations that are generally true.

The future tense describes things that have yet to happen (e.g., later, tomorrow, next week, next year, three years from now).

And the past tense. We use the past tense to talk about an action which happened at a precise point in time and is completely finished (e.g., earlier in the day, yesterday, last week, three years ago).

Listen carefully to this video. Take notes.

In the present simple tense, we say:

  • I/you/we/they live …

BUT, for HE, SHE and IT, we add an S to the end of their verb in the present simple. So we say:

  • He/she/it lives …

However, for the past simple tense it is much easier.
There is only one form of each verb in the past simple tense.*
* The exception is TO BE which has two forms: was and were.

The past tense of LIVE is LIVED. It is the same for all subjects including HE, SHE and IT. There is only one form for each verb.

  • I lived …
  • You lived …
  • We lived …
  • They lived …
  • He lived …
  • She lived …
  • It lived …

How do we make a past tense verb?

To make a past tense verb, we normally just add -ED to the end of a regular verb.

  • play becomes played
  • rain becomes rained
  • cook becomes cooked
  • watch becomes watched
  • need becomes needed
  • want becomes wanted

If the regular verb already ends in -E, we just add a -D to the end.

  • live becomes lived
  • smile becomes smiled
  • dance becomes danced

Let’s look at some more example sentences using regular verbs in the past simple tense:

  • I played my guitar yesterday.
  • It rained last night.
  • He fixed his bike last weekend.
  • Angela watched TV all night.
  • Paul wanted to go to the museum.
Past simple tense in English - Affirmative sentences in the past tense.

How do we make a negative sentence in the past simple tense?

Didn’t is used to make negative sentences in the past simple tense.

  • They lived in Spain … becomes …
  • They didn’t live in Spain.

We do not say they didn’t lived in Spain. No!

Remember, in the present simple tense, don’t and doesn’t are used. In the past simple tense, we only have one auxiliary: didn’t.

I didn’t, you didn’t, we didn’t, they didn’t, he didn’t, she didn’t, it didn’t.

The verb after didn’t is always the base form of the infinitive.
didn’t live … didn’t play… didn’t watch

Some more examples of negative sentences in the past simple tense:

  • I didn’t want to go home.
  • You didn’t need my help.
  • He didn’t like the soup.
  • She didn’t open the door.
  • We didn’t say anything.
  • They didn’t drive to work.
Past simple tense in English - Negative sentences in the past tense.

But how do we make a question in the past simple tense?

We use DID to make questions in the past simple tense.*
* Exceptions: Questions with To Be or Modal Verbs (can, might, must, etc.)

  • They lived in Spain … becomes …
  • Did they live in Spain?

Notice how we use the base form of the infinitive, just like with negative sentences.
We do not say: Did they lived in Spain? No!

Some more examples of questions in the past simple tense:

  • Did I win the prize?
  • Did you need my help?
  • Did he like the soup?
  • Did she open the window?
  • Did we arrive on time?
  • Did Steve walk to school?

Short Answers in the Past Simple Tense

With questions beginning with DID, you can often give a short answer.

Look at these questions. What are some possible short answers?

  • Did you need my help?
    Yes, I did … or … No, I didn’t.
  • Did she open the window?
    Yes, she did … or … No, she didn’t.
  • NOT IN VIDEO: Did we win the game?
    Yes, we did … or … No, we didn’t.
  • Did Steve walk to work?
    Yes, he did … or … No, he didn’t.

Question Words in the Past Simple Tense

With questions, you can also use one of the “question words” such as when, where, why, what, who, which etc. before DID.
Look at these example questions:

  • When did you arrive?
  • Where did they go?
  • Why did she leave early?
  • What did he say?
  • Who did you see?
  • Which did you choose?
  • How did you learn English?
Past simple tense in English - Questions in the past tense - Grammar Lesson

Past Simple Tense – Irregular Verbs – Affirmative Sentences

Let’s look at the verb TO GO.
In the present tense it is GO or GOES.
The past tense of GO is WENT.
WENT is used for all subjects…

I went, you went, he went, she went, it went, we went, and they went.

They all use WENT. For example:

  • I went to the beach last weekend.
  • She went to the dentist last week.
  • They went to the library yesterday.
  • You went to a concert last night.

Past Simple Tense – Irregular Verbs – Negative Sentences

For negative sentences in the past tense, we follow the same rules as regular verbs.

We use didn’t with the verb in its base form. For example:

  • You went to the concert.
  • You didn’t go to the concert.

Notice how we use just GO instead of TO GO.

We don’t say: You didn’t went to the concert. No!

Past Simple Tense – Irregular Verbs – Questions

We use DID at the beginning while the verb is in the base form of the infinitive.

  • Did you go to the concert?

Notice how we use just GO instead of TO GO.

We don’t say: Did you went to the concert? No! 

Past Simple Tense – Irregular Verbs – Summary

So basically, past tense irregular verbs are only irregular in affirmative sentences.
AND there is only one form for each verb. For example:

  • You went to the concert.
  • You didn’t go to the concert.
  • Did you go to the concert?

You can see that GO is only irregular in affirmative past tense sentences when it becomes WENT. In negative sentences and questions, we use GO.

Simple Present

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Verbs come in three tenses: past, present, and future.

The past is used to describe things that have already happened (e.g., earlier in the day, yesterday, last week, three years ago).

The future tense describes things that have yet to happen (e.g., later, tomorrow, next week, next year, three years from now).

This lesson will discuss the present tense which is used to talk about things in general. We can use it to describe actions that happen frequently or situations that are generally true.

Doctors work in hospitals. [true in general]

The doctor starts work at 9:00.  [happens all the time]

This tense is constructed by using the plain infinitive, the infinitive without “to”, when the subject is “I” (also known as the 1st person singular),  “you” (the 2nd person singular / plural), “we” (the 1st person plural) or “they” (the 3rd person plural).

I work as a shop assistant.

You work as a cashier.

We work at weekends.

They work together.

In the 3rd person singular, “he / she / it,”  just add “s” or “es” to the end of the plain infinitive verb.

He works at a school. [to work +s = works]

He teaches English. [to teach + es = teaches]

For present simple negative sentences or questions, English uses the verb “do”  together with the main verb. Verbs that “help” the main verb like this are called auxiliary verbs.

When “he / she / it” is the subject, “do” becomes “does”.

In negative sentences,  “do / does” is followed by “not” and then the main verb.

“Do / does not” can also be shortened to “don’t / doesn’t.”

We do not work at a school. [subject, auxiliary + not, main verb] OR

We don’t work at a school.

He does not speak English. [subject, auxiliary + not, main verb] OR

He doesn’t speak English.

To form questions, the word order changes. “Do / does” is used at the start, followed by the subject and then the main verb.

We also use “ do /does” again in the reply.

* Exceptions: Questions that have To Be or Modal Verbs (can, might, must, etc.)

Do you work here? [auxiliary, subject, main verb]

  • Yes, we do.

Does he speak English? [auxiliary, subject, main verb]

  • No, he doesn’t.

This video shows the irregular verb, to have, that changes for “he / she / it. ” It is an easy, simple and clear lesson.

Now, practice.

Reference: https://englishclassviaskype.com/blog/how-to-learn-english/present-simple-explained-in-pictures/

Especially vs specially

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A Diferença entre Especially e Specially - Adir Ferreira Idiomas

Both especially and specially are adverbs. 

Especially means ‘in particular’, ‘particularly’, or ‘most of all’. We use especially to show that what you are saying applies more to one thing or situation than to others.

  • I like food, but I especially like sandwiches.
  • He’s often a little late, but he was especially late today.
  • She looked especially beautiful that night.
  • I like all of my friends, especially Mark.
  • All of the rooms are dirty, especially the bathroom.
  • Our baby cries a lot, especially when he is hungry.
  • Dave and Mark like football. Dave, especially, watches lots of matches on TV.
  • Mark: Do you want to live abroad? Jane: Yes, I would especially like to live in France.

When especially relates to the subject of a sentence, you put it immediately after the subject.

  • Young babies, especially, are vulnerable to colds.

You can also use especially in front of an adjective to emphasize a characteristic or quality.

  • I found her laugh especially annoying.

We use specially to say that something is done or made for a particular purpose.

  • This sandwich was specially made.
  • They had a chair specially designed for her size.
  • The animals are specially trained to locate the mushrooms.
  • I bought a bag specially for my computer.
  • The suit was specially made for me.
  • I went to New York specially to see the Statue of Liberty.

We can use both, especially and specially, when we refer to a ‘special purpose,’ or ‘specifically.’

  • I bought this milk especially / specially for you. 
  • The speech was written especially / specially for the occasion. 

Practice doing the mini-test at the end of the page.