Past Simple or Present Perfect?

I ....... them yesterday.


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    456

joséantonio

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the word saw is the suitable word it should be using here, cause the word yesterday had clarified the time which is past simple, cause if we choose have seen that means we will not need to the word yesterday which located in the end of the sentence as the rule says.

but with yesterday we use the simple past tense.

for example we can say I saw King of Darkness yesterday.
or
I have seen King of Drakness.

I think you're right...... now a see, so the correct answer would be

I saw him yesterday.:up:

because of the specific time

thank you
 

thepossible

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saw is correct because action is not going on. And we use yesterday in past simple tense.
 

richardyue

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The past simple is definitely the correct tense in the above situation. But why isn't present perfect right?
 

Maximilian

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With these time indicators: yesterday, the day before yesterday, when I was a child, last Tuesday, a fortnight ago etc. we must use the past simple.
 

Zeeshanmaq

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I saw them yesterday, this is right sentence.
bcoz here is mantion yesterday, thts why we use Past Simple..
 

binmosa

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I have selected the first one

because of ( yesterday ) ,

but if you want to seletc ( have seen )

yesterday must be removed .​
 

saloom2

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Past simple, indeed. because there a specific time. But, present perfect is used to emphasis the action and with no specific time. I hope I helped you.
 

Mr.AHMED S.

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I could say 'I haven't had lunch today', unfished time and I expect to have luch. If I have left my office and am on the bus home I could say 'I did a lot of work today'. Here, the day has not ended, but the working part has and I don't expect to do any more work.;-)

Well, we can use "Today" with both past simple and present perfect.
 

Tdol

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Yes, we can. And I am sorry that I cannot correct the typos in my original post.
 

malik10

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Past simple because the action is finished.
 

tuysokha

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The time expression' yesterday' tells us clearly that the time is finished,so the past simple is used here. Also remember that the present perfect can be used to talk about the past action,but we don't tell the exact date when the action happened. It simply tells us about the past experience.

  1. I worked for IBM in 2000
  2. I have worked for IBM. (It is my past experience)

Also, the present perfect can be used to talk about an action that happened the past and continues to the present. We normally add the expressions like "for 2 days... since Monday...)

I have taught English for 3 years.

Want to learn more from me?

 
Last edited:
Y

Yiagos

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I voted the first option. But is it wrong if we say I did see them yesterday?
If not, what's the difference? Read here
 

osvando

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The word yesterday makes all the difference here. It provides a time frame, and that makes all the difference. You can say I have seen him today, but you can't say I have seen him yesterday. I suppose the reason for that is that while saw refers to the past, have seen is about both the past and the present.

How's that?

:wink:


I agree
 

IQIsantiago

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Well, honestly chose "saw" because i always hear that say "i saw you, i saw her, i saw him, etc" on movies. I don't even know if what i have said is properly written.
 

...p

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I think "saw" is correctly.
I was taught. If it was in past in concrete moment, we use Past Simple. If moment is not important, we use Present Perfect.
 
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I believe the answer here is saw because yesterday is a specific time expression therefore simple past should be used.
 

muster

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The correct answer is past simple because the adverb "yesterday" states a finished action at a past time.
 
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