Have, Had, Has Grammar | Past and Present Perfect | Learn English Grammar | Go Natural English

Hello Go Natural English learners, how are you today? I'm your English teacher

Gabby and in this free English lesson

I'm going to show you some examples of the simple

past tense versus present perfect because

I know this is a confusing point in English.

These examples will help to clarify the way

that native speakers use these two different

tenses in natural English conversation

the way people really talk, not your textbook English.

Now this lesson a sneak preview

of what you'll find inside the Go Natural English Premium

Course, Fluent Communication where we talk

a lot about different structures and how to use them naturally.

It's not just a grammar course but it's much

much more. So you can learn more about that at GoNaturalEnglish.com/PremiumGNE

GoNaturalEnglish.com/PremiumGNE

OK, so let me share these examples with you. I

have three different examples behind me.

We're going to take a look at what happens when I make sentences

with had or with have had.

Let's take a look at the first one. Two cups of coffee.

I'm enjoying my second cup of coffee right now.

If I told you

"I've had two cups of coffee today so far."

That would make the most sense because I'm still enjoying my coffee.

Right now. But after I drink my coffee

I could say, "I had two cups of coffee

today." For example, in conversation

maybe you ask me, "Gabby, would you like to have a cup of coffee?"

I might say, "Thank you, but I

have already had two cups of coffee today." Why would I

say that? Even after I'm done drinking I can say that

because my answer is related to your

current present question.

I'm relating what happened in the past, I drank two cups of coffee, that's a lot,

to the present. That's why I'm using the present perfect.

Now it's OK to say, "No thank you,

I had two cups of coffee." But it's not really natural. I mean

I would understand what you're saying, but it's really not the best option

out of the two options we have here. Ok next

allergies! Ok, this is true, I've been struggling with

allergies this season, unfortunately. Did you hear what I said?

I've been struggling with allergies. So recently

and still at this moment, I've been

having a problem with allergies or I've been struggling

with allergies. I'm just feeling better

today but the last few days like yesterday

I was almost better, 90%. Today I would say

I'm 99% better but still I'm having a little bit

of problems with allergies, you know, stuffy nose, a little

cough. It's not very fun to have allergies.

Now, when I was traveling last month

I was in Brazil. I traveled to Brazil and I

had allergies in Brazil, too.

This is the past. I'm talking about a trip that occured

in the past. I'm talking about last month, so I can say I

had allergies. Now if you ask me

"Gabby, do you usually have allergies?" I could say

"Yeah, I've had allergies" in the past. Because

I'm relating my experience in the past to your present

question. (I can also simply say "Yes I generally have problems with allergies" using the present simple). Now, finally

a good idea. I've had so many good ideas over

my lifetime. I

could say "I've had so many good ideas."

Recently I've been feeling very inspired.

When you're in a conversation

and you want to interrupt or interject an idea

you could say, "I had an idea!

We could... go get some more coffee."

Or, "I had an idea. Why don't we...

blah blah blah blah." Ok so to

enter a conversation it's natural

to say, "I had an idea." Or

it's very natural also to say "I have an idea!" in the

present tense but in this video we're talking about the past

tense versus the present perfect. So you could say

"I had an idea!" or "I have an idea." to enter a conversation.

If I was talking about my past I

could say, "I had a good idea" or

"I had what I thought was a good idea"

"I thought it would be a good idea

to not use sunscreen

because I wanted to get some color on my skin but

then I got a sunburn" so I put that idea

in the past tense. "I had what I thought

was a good idea." It changed. It

I thought it was a good idea in the past, but

I realized it wasn't. That's why I used the past tense.

OK. I hope that these examples are helpful. I think the best

thing that you can do is 1, of course join the Fluent

Communication course at GoNaturalEnglish.com under the

Premium Courses area, but 2, really

flood yourself with examples. Look

at examples of all different tenses in

English, especially from native speakers, especially from real

conversations. That's what we do at Go Natural English in our Premium Courses.

I show you examples in conversations, not only from me

but also with other native English speakers. So it's really

important to observe and through observing

through lots of examples and focusing on the differences

then you'll have a much clearer

understanding of how to use these two tenses

differently. So if you enjoyed this lesson then

like it, leave a comment, share it, subscribe

do all these good things and I hope to see you

soon inside our course, Fluent Communication. Alright

bye for now!