Perbedaan Present Perfect dan Past Simple

Contoh Kasus Perbandingan:

Tom is looking for his key. He can’t find it.

He has lost his key.  (present perfect)

This means he doesn’t have the key now.

Menceritakan sesuatu yang sudah terjadi dan sekarang itu tedak sedang dilakukan. yang bisa kita lihat hanya effek dari kejadian.

Now tom has found his key. He has it now.

Has he lost his key? ( present perfect)

No, he hasn’t. He has found it.
Pertanya pertama adalah menanyakan apakah tomi kehilangan kuncinya?
jawabanya adalah tidak. kenapa? karena dia menanyakan dalam bentuk present perfect, dia tidak kehilangan dia sudah menemukannya.

Did he lose his key? (past simple)

Yes, he did.
dan disini jawabanya adalah iya karena pertanyaanya adalah past

He lost his key (pas simple )

But now he has found it. (present perfect)

The Present perfect is a present tense. It always tells us something about now.
Tom has lost his key= he doesn’t have his key now.

The Past simple tell us only about the past. If somebody say “tom lost his key”. We don’t know whether he has it now or not. We only know that he lost it at some time in the past.

In Compare:
Present Perfect
Tom has lost his key. He can’t get into the house

Here, we are not thinking of the past action. We are thinking of the present result of the action: tom doesn’t have his key now.

I’ve done a lot of work today.
We use the present perfect for the period of time that continues from the past until now.
I.g. today, this week since 2000. (unfinished)

Have you seen Ann this morning?
( it is still morning)
I don’t know where Ann is. I haven’t seen her. ( I haven’t seen her recently)
We’ve been waiting for an hour.
( we are still waiting now)
I have never played golf. ( in my life)


Past Simple
Tom lost his key yesterday. He couldn’t get into the house.
Here, we are thinking of the action in the past. We don’t know from this sentence wheather tom has his key now.

I did a lot of work yesterday.
We use the past simple for a finished time. In the past. I.g , yesterday, last week. From 2000 to 2013


Did you see Ann this morning?
(it is now afternoon or evening )
I didn’t see her

We waited (or were waiting) for an hour. (We are no longer waiting.
I didn’t play golf in last summer. ( it is probably he is playing golf right now)

 Are the underlined parts of these sentences right or wrong? Correct the one that are wrong
1. I’ve lost my key. I can’t find it anywhere ………………………………………………………………………………………
2. Have you seen the news on television last night? …………………………………………………………………………
3. I’ve bought a new car. Do you want to see it? ………………………………………………………………………………
4. I’ve bought a new car last week. ………………………………………………………………………………………………….
5. Where have you been yesterday evening? …………………………………………………………………………………..
6. Jenny has left school in 1991. ………………………………………………………………………………………………………
7. I am looking for mike. Have you seen him?  …………………………………………………………………………………
8. I am very hungry. I haven’t eaten anything today. ………………………………………………………………………
9. Diane hasn’t been at work yesterday. …………………………………………………………………………………………
10. When has this book been published? …………………………………………………………………………………………