English grammar: simple vs. perfect past tense

Today, I’ll explain when to use SIMPLE PAST TENSE and PERFECT PAST TENSE.

First of all, what are they? 

We use past tenses to talk about things that have happened in the past, so we can only change the tense of a verb. Below are some examples:

Root verb – simple past – perfect past
run            – ran                – have run
eat             – ate                 – have eaten
see            – saw                – have seen
drink        – drank            – have drunk

What’s the difference?

We use simple past tense when the reader/listener knows what time in the past we are talking about (eg. last week, this morning, last year). We use perfect past tense when the reader/listener doesn’t know what time in the past we are talking about. I use an example to explain this in the video:

Let me know what you’d like me to explain next!

~Shirlaine