Hello dear English learner! Past tenses in English are hard! But don’t worry – I’m here to help. I’m Agnieszka Murdoch and I’m a CELTA-certified English teacher. I run English with Aga on Instagram, TikTok and YouTube.
On this page, you will find a collection of my top short and long videos about English past tenses.
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Learn all English past tenses in 12 minutes
The video below is an overview of all English past tenses – when and how to use them. Watch it first, and then scroll down this page to learn about individual tenses in more detail.
Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel English with Aga for more advice on learning English.
Past simple and present perfect: what’s the difference? (example 1)
What is the difference between:
- I worked here for two years, and
- I have worked here for two years?
The difference between the past simple and the present perfect in English is probably something I get the most questions about.
Watch my Instagram reel to find out what it is:
You can also watch this short video on TikTok.
(Video description:
‘I worked here for two years’ is the past simple. It’s a completed action in the past. I don’t work here anymore.
‘I have worked here for two years’ is the present perfect. It means I started working here two years ago, and I still work here now. So, this sentence is about the whole period of time between two years ago and now.)
Past simple and present perfect: what’s the difference? (example 2)
The present perfect has another use (apart from the one in the example above). It can also be used to talk about completed actions in the past, but when we don’t say (or it doesn’t matter) when they happened.
So, what is the difference between:
- I read this book, and
- I have read this book?
Watch my TikTok to find out:
You can also watch this short video on my Instagram.
(Video description:
‘I read this book’ is the past simple. It’s a completed action in the past. It happened at a specific point in the past. Normally, you would say when exactly it happened. For example: ‘I read this book last year.’
‘I have read this book’ is also a completed action in the past. But it doesn’t matter when it happened. We’re not saying when it happened. It happened at some point in my life. The important thing in this sentence is that it’s a completed action, and not when it was completed.)
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Past simple and present perfect: what’s the difference? (example 3)
And the final example of the difference between the past simple and the present perfect.
What’s the difference between:
- I didn’t pay for my coffee, and
- I haven’t paid for my coffee?
You can watch the video explaining this on my Instagram:
You can also watch this video on my TikTok.
(Video description:
‘I didn’t pay for my coffee’ is the past simple. It’s something that happened in the past. It suggests that I’m not at the coffee shop anymore. So, it’s too late to pay. It’s probably something that happened this morning, before I went to work, or last week, or even longer ago.
‘I haven’t paid for my coffee’ is the present perfect. I might still pay because I’m probably still at the coffee shop. Or maybe I have just left. I can still go back and pay.)
Present perfect and past perfect: what’s the difference?
My YouTube video explains in detail when to use the present perfect and the past perfect, and what the difference is between them.
I also have a shorter version of this video on TikTok:
Don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube channel for more advice on learning English!
Present perfect and past perfect: what’s the difference? (example 1)
The most common situation in which you need the past perfect is to say that something happened before something else in the past. To make it clear which event happened first.
Look at these two sentences:
- We had dinner
- We had had dinner
Watch my Instagram reel to learn about the difference between them:
You can also watch this video on TikTok.
(Video description:
‘We had dinner’ is the past simple. ‘Had’ is the past simple form of the verb ‘to have’. It happened at a specific moment in the past. Normally, you would say when – for example: ‘We had dinner last night.’
‘We had had dinner’ is the past perfect. It happened before something else in the past. For example: ‘When you rang me last night, we had already had dinner.’ So, having dinner happened before you ringing me. That’s why we need the past perfect.
In ‘we had had dinner’, the first ‘had’ is the auxiliary verb, and the second ‘had’ is the past participle form of the verb ‘to have’.)
Present perfect and past perfect: what’s the difference? (example 2)
There is another situation in which you need the past perfect. It’s when you’re talking about a period of time leading up to a specific moment in the past. Look at these two sentences:
- I have had this car for two years.
- I had had this car for two years.
Watch my TikTok video to learn about the difference between them:
You can also watch this video on my Instagram.
(Video description:
‘I have had this car for two years.’ That’s the present perfect. I’m talking about the period of time between two years ago and now. It means I still have this car.
‘I had had this car for two years’ is the past perfect. It’s about a period of two years leading up to some point in the past. For example: ‘When you visited me five years ago, I had had this car for two years.’ This sentence is about the two years leading up to the point when you visited me, five years ago. We don’t know if I still have this car or not.)
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Present perfect and present perfect continuous: what’s the difference?
What is the difference between:
- I have eaten an apple, and
- I have been eating an apple?
Watch my Instagram reel to find out:
You can also watch this video on TikTok.
(Video description:
‘I have eaten an apple’ is the present perfect. It’s a completed action in the past. We don’t know when it happened, it’s not important. All that matters is that it’s done, it’s finished.
‘I have been eating an apple’ is the present perfect continuous. It’s a continuous action that started in the past and is still happening now. So, I started eating an apple some time ago and I’m still eating it now.)
‘Was being’ – is that correct?
Is it correct to say ‘I was being patient’ instead of ‘I was patient’?
Watch my Instagram reel to find out:
You can also watch this video on my TikTok.
(Video description:
Yes, ‘I was being patient’ is correct. This sentence is in the past continuous.
The past continuous tense used with the verb ‘to be’ (‘I was being’ instead of ‘I was’) underlines the continuous nature of something. So, I was being patient continuously, for a period of time.
If you just said ‘I was patient’, the meaning is pretty much the same, but the continuous nature of being patient is not mentioned.)
‘Used to’ and ‘would’: what’s the difference?
Watch my YouTube video to learn in detail about the difference between ‘used to’ and ‘would’ to talk about the past in English:
I also have a shorter version of this video on Instagram:
And you can watch it on TikTok too.