483. Past Simple vs. Present Perfect: EASY EXPLANATION & PRACTICE!

We didn't watch. We didn't watch. We didn't watch that movie yesterday. Look after, looked after, went, saw, ate. Today we are going to use the pronunciation confidence method in a grammar sprint. It's a 10 minute, very efficient daily drill. I'm going to focus the sprint on two tenses. The past simple and the present perfect. Hey, you're listening to the Influency podcast. I'm Hadar, your host, a pronunciation expert, fluency coach, and a proud non native speaker. With over 16 years of experience teaching. I am here to share with you all my secrets on how to show up in English clearly with confidence and freedom. On this podcast, I'll provide step by step strategies, lessons, stories and practical tips to keep you inspired and motivated on your English English journey. Are you ready? Let's do it. How would you like to use the grammar that you already know automatically? Let me guess. Every time you learn a new grammar rule or dive into learning a new tense, you understand it in theory, but it's kind of hard for you to use it consistently when you speak. So you might be understanding the rule, but when you say a sentence, it might be a little different than how it should be. This could be extremely frustrating. And the reason is that whenever you learn a new thing, grammar, vocabulary or pronunciation, you need to develop speaking habits. Speaking habits are words or sounds or grammatical structures that have become automatic because you've repeated them and enough times. This is why I developed the pronunciation confidence method, which is a step by step method to build speaking habits and use what you learn automatically. So instead of just understanding a concept, you need to repeat it intentionally, again and again until not only your conscious mind understands it, but also your subconscious mind and your mouth gets used to saying it again and again until you're able to use it more spontaneously and and you'll learn it in a more interactive and effective way. Today we are going to use the pronunciation confidence method in a grammar sprint. I've been sharing sprints for the past few years on my platforms and inside my membership beyond. Whoa Whoa. Way woah woah. Why woah woah woah. People use it to practice every single day. It's a 10 minute, very efficient daily drill. Today I'm going to focus the sprint on two tenses. The past simple and and the present perfect. What we're going to do is we're going to understand these two tenses. Why? They often get confused. You use those two tenses to talk about the past. I'm going to give you some pronunciation hacks. We're going to understand the structure and we're going to drill sentences. So what I'm asking you to do is to repeat the sentences after me. Just shadow me so you'll see how effective this exercise is. We're so used to just learning things passively and understanding them without saying them. So. So this is a whole new way to learn and practice. Are you ready? Let's do it. We're going to start with past simple. We use the past simple to describe actions that happened and completed at a definite time in the past. Remember this definite time in the past. You know when it happened. For example, I hosted our meeting last week. Repeat after me. I hosted our meeting last week. The structure is basically adding ed suffix in regular verbs. We also have irregular verbs. We're not going to get much into it, but when you think of the past simple, you think of the ed suffix. Let me give you a pronunciation hack. The ed suffix is pronounced as ID or UD when the verb ends in a T or a D. Okay? When the verb ends in a T or a D, we add id. Okay? For example, decide. Ends with a D. Decided. Repeat after me. Visit. Visited. Start. Started. Need. Needed. So if the ED suffix appears after a voiced sound or a vowel, a voiced sound is a voiced consonant. D. Buh. G. Okay? A consonant where you need to activate the vocal cords and then it's pronounced as a D. Play. Vowel. Played. Love. Voice. Consonant. Loved. It's easy. Call. Called. We do not pronounce the vowel in between. Not called. Not love it. Loved. Called. Arrived. Now, if the ED suffix appears after a voiceless sound, then we pronounce it as a T. Because it's really hard to pronounce a D there. Or work. Worked. Okay. Just a t. Not worked. We do not put a d there. Not worked. There is no D. It's really hard to put a d after a k Sound. Worked. Stopped. Laughed. Watch. Watched. Good. Let's practice it. You called him three months ago. Called. Called. Called. You called him three months ago. You mentioned his name the other day. You really helped us yesterday. Notice that there is always an indication of time or you know when it happened. You called him three months ago. You mentioned his name the other day. You really helped us yesterday. I really hope you're repeating after me. You missed the party last week. Again, when you repeat after me, you build pronunciation confidence of using this tense. Don't underestimate the value of saying it out loud and. And you understand it with your conscious mind and with your subconscious mind. Now, if we have did at the beginning, as we do for questions, we do not need to change the verb. Did you have a good time last night? Did he talk to her yesterday? Did I say something wrong? Not did, I said. Did I say? Just the verb, the infinitive form. Did I say something wrong? You didn't join the meeting. Same thing with didn't. You didn't join the meeting yesterday. You didn't talk at the party that night. You didn't visit us last week. When we have did or didn't, then the verb is in its base form, didn't join, didn't talk, didn't visit. Now, when we have irregular verbs, we use the irregular verb there. She went to the park yesterday. They saw the movie last week. We ate pizza for lunch. She didn't go to the park yesterday. She didn't eat pizza for lunch. She didn't see the movie last weekend. Not didn't, saw. She didn't see, didn't eat, didn't go. Again, repeat after me. Didn't go, didn't eat, didn't see, went, saw, ate, didn't go, didn't eat, didn't see. Now, I want you to pause the video to make it even more effective, and I want you to practice it intentionally. Talk about a moment you remember clearly in the past. Say it out loud. What happened when, what did people say or do. Make sure you use the past simple tense because you're talking about a specific time or a specific event. And make sure you use accurate pronunciation with the ed suffix and as discussed. So now pause, practice intentionally, and then we'll continue. All right, Moving on to the present perfect simple. The present perfect simple is used for actions that happened or started in the past. So we're still talking about the past, but are still relevant to the present. Now, this may sound a little vague to you, so let me explain. Even better, it connects the past to the present, you showing how the action impacts the present or is a part of your life experience because your life experience is who you are today. So this is when we use the present perfect. So, unlike the past simple, which talks about actions completed in the past at a specific time, the present perfect doesn't focus on when the action happened. Instead, it's about the result or importance of of that action right now. So while the past simple and present perfect both talk about the past, the past symbol talks about a specific action that happened in the past, and the present perfect talks about an action in the past that is somehow connected to who you are, your life experience, or this moment right now. The structure of the present perfect tense is have or has plus the third form of the verb past participle v3. My pronunciation hack to you when it comes to the present perfect is to reduce has to either Z or s. We'll talk about it. And to reduce the have to V. Okay, so we just reduce it. We drop the H. We drop the vowel there. That's the first thing. Second thing, learn the past participle form of all verbs. It's really important. In many cases, it's just adding ed. But in other cases, with all the irregular verbs, you need to learn the third form of the verb I have. I've. We have. We've. You have. You've. They have. They've. She has. She's. He has. He's. It has its. We've lived here for five months, right? It started in the past. Still relevant for the future because we still live here. We've lived here. We've lived here. We've worked here for two years. We've known him for four years. We've been friends for over a decade. She's tried that before. It happened before. It doesn't matter when, but she's tried it and it's relevant for the present. She's tried it. Not, she has, She's. She's tried it before. It's not a mistake to say she has, but you can reduce it to she's tried that before. She's helped him once or twice. She's heard that song before. She's thrown his shirt in the trash. We don't know when, but we know he has no shirt right now. She's tried, she's helped, she's heard, she's thrown again. She's tried, she's helped, she's heard, she's thrown. I've never liked spicy food. I've never liked spicy food. I've never. I've never. I've never. Repeat after me. I've never liked spicy food. I've never watched the White Lotus. I've never watched the White Lotus. Watched, watched, watched. I've never watched the White Lotus. I haven't slept well for weeks. I haven't slept well for weeks. I haven't heard from her in a while. I haven't heard. I haven't heard. I haven't heard. I've never liked. I've never watched. I haven't slept. I haven't heard. Again. I've never liked. I've never watched. I haven't slept, I haven't heard. Very good. Have you ever visited Rome? We can Break it. Have you ever visited Rome? Have you ever cheated on a test? Have you ever lost your phone? Have you ever seen such a thing? So instead of saying, did you visit Rome? Because we're not talking about last August, right? Did you visit Rome last August? Great. Past Simple. Have you ever visited Rome anytime in your lifetime before this day? Present Perfect. Have you ever visited Rome? Have you ever cheated on a test? Have you ever lost your phone? Have you ever seen such a thing? Have you worked here for a long time? Have you lived here since you got married? Have you known each other all your life? Have you worked? Have you lived? Have you known. Now, before we go into comparing the two tenses, I want you to pause the video and let's practice. Intentionally describe something you've done in the past that you're proud of. What was it? How did it feel? Okay, so we're not talking about a specific event, but something that you've done that is relevant to the present. Now, when talking about it, you could use the past simple tense if you're talking about that specific event. But if you're talking about something that you've done, I've written a book, for example, that you're proud of and you want to talk about it. And it doesn't matter when it happened. The fact that it happened matters in this conversation right now. That's when you'll use the present perfect tense. And I want you to pause the video and practice it. Now, let's compare the two. So let's drill the differences together. Remember the difference. Past Simple. The time of the event is important and mentioned and known. When it comes to present perfect, the time of the event is not important. It's. It's the action or the experience that matters. I lived there last year. Last year. Time timeline Clear. Lived. Lived. Lived. I lived there last year. Past. Simple. I lived there last year. Lived. Sound. Because the V is voiced. I lived there last year. Present Perfect. Simple. I've lived there before. Doesn't matter when. It matters that I know the place. I. I've lived there. I've lived. I've lived. I've lived. I lived. I've lived. I lived. I've lived. I lived there last year. I've lived there before. I lived there last year. I've lived there before. See how it's clearer when you compare, when you drill it, when you say it again and again, when you see it in context. Good. We didn't watch that movie yesterday. We didn't watch that movie yesterday. We didn't watch. We didn't watch. We didn't watch that movie yesterday. We haven't watched that movie in ages. We haven't watched that movie in ages. We haven't watched. We haven't watched. We haven't watched. I worked yesterday. What did you do yesterday? I worked. I worked yesterday. I've worked in that company. Yesterday. Last year, Last month. Doesn't matter. What matters is the fact that I have the experience of working in that company. I worked yesterday. Response to what did you do? I worked. I worked yesterday. I've worked in that company. I've worked in that company. I worked. I've worked. I worked. I've worked. Take with me. It's really important to say it out loud. Don't just watch and listen. But the whole idea is the repetitions. I worked. I worked. I worked yesterday. I've worked in that company. I worked yesterday. I've worked in that company. I worked. I've worked. I didn't study much in college. Specific time. I didn't study much in college. I didn't study. I didn't study. I didn't study. I haven't studied much lately. I haven't studied much lately. It's about the experience. It's about the impact it has on my present. I didn't study much in college. I haven't studied much lately. I didn't study. I haven't studied. I didn't study. I haven't studied. I didn't study much in college. I haven't studied much lately. Much in college. Much lately. Good. Repeat after me. And if it's a little fast, just shadow me. Or slow down the video. You'll get it. Did you see that movie last night? Did you see that movie last night? Have you seen that movie before? Have you seen that movie before? Did you see that movie last night? Have you seen that movie before? Repeat after me. Shadow me. Did you see that movie last night? Have you seen that movie before? Did you see that movie last night? Have you seen that movie before? Did you see? Have you seen? Did you see? Have you seen? Did you see? Have you seen? She didn't eat lunch at noon. She hasn't eaten lunch yet. She hasn't eaten lunch yet. She didn't eat. She hasn't eaten. She didn't eat. She hasn't eaten. She didn't eat lunch at noon. She hasn't eaten lunch yet. Did you meet anyone new at the party? Did you meet? Did you meet? Did you meet anyone new at the party? Have you met anyone interesting lately? Lately? Indication of the perfect tense have you met anyone interesting lately? Did you meet? Have you met? Did you meet? Have you met? Did you meet? Have you met? All right, good. Take a breath. Let's do a little lip trill, because I know you worked hard. Good. Now, if you enjoy this kind of exercise, I have an entire mini training called the Grammar Master. And there I have 10 lessons about each tense where I explain the tense in a very simple and efficient way. I explain the pronunciation, and we practice drills of different sentences and different structures of of the same tense so that you can internalize the tense and start using it more automatically and naturally without overthinking and without worrying about making mistakes. And if you like to learn more about it, I'm going to put the link in the description below. Let's do a little recap. What we did today is we understood the tense, the past symbol, and the present perfect. We talked about the pronunciation because it's also really important when. When doing these repetitions. And we practiced drills of different structures of sentences to understand how to use the tense in context. Those repetitions allow you to build the confidence in saying these phrases in the right tense accurately. And it helps you understand it logically, but also subconsciously through intentional repetition and then intentional practice. This is the best way to really internalize a new tense. And when you do these things, you'll notice that it's a lot easier for you to actually use the things that you know, and you'll make a lot less mistakes in the meantime. Thank you so much for practicing with me. I hope you enjoyed it, and I'll see you next week in the next video. Bye.