ESL students often find it difficult to use tenses correctly. The present perfect and past perfect tenses are particularly confusing.

In this article we will take a look at some of the most common mistakes in the use of tenses.

• Incorrect: I have seen him yesterday.
• Incorrect: I had seen him yesterday.
• Correct: I saw him yesterday.

Explanation

The present perfect tense is not used with adverbs of past time. Although past perfect tense can be used with adverbs of past time, it is not used to simply say that something happened some time ago. That meaning is expressed with the simple past tense.

• I sent the money yesterday. (NOT I had sent the money yesterday. / NOT I have sent the money yesterday.)
• I finished that report last week. (NOT I had finished that report last week. / NOT I have finished that report last week.)
• I visited my parents last week. (NOT I had visited my parents last week. / NOT I have visited my parents last week.)

The past perfect tense is only used to talk about the earlier of two past actions.

Using would

Would is used in second conditional sentences to talk about unreal or imaginary situations.

Compare:

• I would want to buy a car if I got my raise. (Here we are talking about an unreal situation.)
• I want to buy a car. (Here we are simply talking about a desire.)
• I would want to try those sweets if they weren’t so expensive.

Sentences like ‘I would want to buy a car’ are not normally used without a condition.