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Necrophagist Posted 8 years ago
Grammar

Present perfect vs past simple

If I wanted to tell someone that I did something without letting that someone know when, what would be the best tense to use?

I bought a house.

I've bought a house.

What's the difference? To me, the first sentence emphasizes the action itself. It happened at some point in the past and it doesn't really matter when, but I've also been taught that we should use the present perfect when we're talking about an event in the past and there's no indication as to when it happened. Are both of these sentences correct?

  

Top answer

Necrophagist I've also been taught that we should use the present perfect when we're talking about an event in the past and there's no indication as to when it happened. g. "I've been to Paris several times".

— GPY

  • Necrophagist I've also been taught that we should use the present perfect when we're talking about an event in the past and there's no indication as to when it happened.
  • g.
  • "I've been to Paris several times".
  • This is an unlikely interpretation of "I've bought a house".
  • Instead, "I've bought a house" would normally emphasise the recency and present relevance of the purchase, versus "I bought a house", which could be talking about a historical event.
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2 Answers
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Necrophagist I've also been taught that we should use the present perfect when we're talking about an event in the past and there's no indication as to when it happened.

This is probably referring to what is sometimes called the "experiential" use of the present perfect – stating that you have done something on one or more past occasions, e.g. "I've been to

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NecrophagistI've also been taught that we should use the present perfect when we're talking about an event in the past and there's no indication as to when it happened.

That's not exactly right. If there's no indication of time, either of those tenses may be used. If there is an indication of time, only the past may be used.

See

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