La pregunta que decide todo: ¿cuándo terminó?
The rule in one breath
- PRESENT PERFECT (have/has + past participle): experiencia sin fecha, duración hasta ahora, resultado visible hoy. "I HAVE LOST my keys" (y sigo sin ellas).
- PAST SIMPLE: acción terminada con fecha o contexto terminado. "I LOST my keys yesterday" (ya las encontré o ya no importa).
- Palabras clave que PIDEN present perfect: ever, never, already, yet, since, for, so far, this week.
- Palabras clave que PIDEN past simple: yesterday, last year/week, ago, in 2010, when I was a child.
El error de traducción que delata a un hispanohablante
En español decimos "HE viajado a Japón" (perfecto) para hablar de experiencias, y ese "he + participio" coincide casi exacto con "I HAVE traveled". Buena noticia: la estructura se traduce directo. La trampa es cuando METES una fecha: en español puedes decir "He viajado a Japón en 2019" (aunque suene raro), pero en inglés NO puedes juntar have/has con una fecha terminada. En cuanto aparece "in 2019", "last", "ago" o "when", el verbo DEBE ser past simple: "I TRAVELED to Japan in 2019", nunca "~~I have traveled to Japan in 2019~~".
Reading passage: "Two years on the road"
Read the text and notice how the verbs SHIFT between present perfect (for background and life-up-to-now) and past simple (for specific moments in the story).
My name is Daniela and I have lived a fuller life in the last two years than in all my childhood. I have visited eleven countries, I have learned to surf badly and to cook respectably, and I have made friends on four continents. But this story really starts on a rainy Tuesday in 2023, when I sold my car. I had thought about it for months, and I had saved just enough money to survive. The morning I handed over the keys, my hands were shaking. I had never done anything so terrifying, and I had never felt so awake. Since then, life has been a series of doors that opened while others closed.
Detrás del texto: por qué cambia el tiempo
- "I HAVE lived / have visited / have learned / have made": son logros de Daniela que llegan HASTA el momento de hablar. No dice cuándo: cuenta su "haber". Present perfect.
- "...when I SOLD my car" / "my hands WERE shaking": en cuanto ancla una fecha ("on a rainy Tuesday in 2023", "The morning ..."), pasa a past simple. Son fotos puntuales.
- "I HAD thought / I HAD saved / I had never done": el PAST PERFECT (had + participio) es "el pasado del pasado". Suceso que ocurrió ANTES de otro momento ya pasado. Daniela pensó en vender el auto (had thought) antes de venderlo (sold).
- "Since then, life HAS BEEN...": con "since", el presente sigue abierto → present perfect.
La cadena narrativa (the narrative chain)
Una buena historia combina los tres tiempos pasados como una cámara: el PAST CONTINUOUS ("I was shaking") pone la escena en movimiento; el PAST SIMPLE ("I handed over the keys") es la acción que irrumpe; el PAST PERFECT ("I had saved enough") da el antecedente. Regla de oro para escribir: background en continuous, eventos principales en simple, y lo previo en perfect.
| Tiempo | Función narrativa | Ejemplo del pasaje |
|---|---|---|
| Past continuous | escena / acción en curso | my hands were shaking |
| Past simple | evento puntual que avanza la trama | I sold my car |
| Past perfect | lo que ya había ocurrido antes | I had saved just enough |
So, such, too, enough: hablar de grado
- ENOUGH: "adjetivo + enough" (old enough to vote) o "enough + sustantivo" (enough money). Va DESPUÉS del adjetivo, ANTES del nombre.
- TOO: "too + adjetivo" (too expensive to buy) = en exceso, negativo. No confundir con "very".
- SO + adjetivo / SUCH + (a) + adjetivo + sustantivo: "It was SO cold" / "It was SUCH a cold day". Such necesita un nombre.
Practice — Basic
Choose the CORRECT sentence:
"She isn't old ___ to drive, but she has enough money ___ a car."
Usar "I have saw that film" es correcto.
Practice — Intermediate
Put the verb in PRESENT PERFECT or PAST SIMPLE: "When I (be) a child, I (never / travel). Since then, I (visit) twenty countries."
Match the tense to its job in a story:
How many countries has Daniela visited in the passage? (Enter the number.)
Practice — Advanced
Read the sentence in four parts. Which part contains the grammatical ERROR? "I have known my best friend / since we were at school / and we have met again / last summer after ten years."
Marca la línea o las líneas con error y pulsa Comprobar.
Write 5-7 sentences about a life experience of yours. Use present perfect for what you have achieved so far ("I have ..."), then tell ONE specific story in past tenses with at least one past perfect. Underline each verb tense you use.
Se evalúa alternar correctamente present perfect (logros abiertos) y past simple/continuous/perfect (historia cerrada), y subrayar los tiempos.
Tu texto se guarda sólo en este dispositivo.
English with Lucy · Present perfect vs pastVídeo nativo con ejemplos y pronunciación.
Key cards
Toca una tarjeta para ver la respuesta.
Tell a life story with correct tense shifts
Aquí se mira lo que ya fuiste acertando. Pulsa «Comprobar» para saber si puedes seguir.
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