AEE: Can You Use “Yet” With Past Simple Tense?

This is an All Ears English podcast. Can you use yet with past simple tense? Welcome to the All Ears English podcast downloaded more than 200 million times. Are you feeling stuck with your English?

We'll show you how to become fearless and fluent by focusing on connection, not perfection with your American host, Aubrey Carter, the IELTS whiz, and Lindsay McMahon, the English adventurer, coming to you from Arizona and Colorado, USA. And to get your transcripts delivered by email every week, go to allearsenglish.com forward slash subscribe.

Do you ever hear a native speaker use the simple pass plus the word yet? Does it feel like this breaks every rule you ever learned in English class? Find out what's going on here today.

Sometimes English learners think their problem is vocabulary, but often the issue is something deeper. It's hesitation. You pause to translate. You pause to check grammar.

You pause to search for the perfect word. Those small pauses add up and interrupt the natural flow of conversation. You can respond with ease without constantly analyzing every sentence. Our free two-minute fluency quiz will show you your current level and what skills you need to improve.

Go to allearsenglish.com slash fluency score. That's allearsenglish.com slash f-l-u-e-n-c-y-s-c-o-r-e. Hello, Lindsay. How are you? Hey, I'm doing good, Aubrey.

Have you been watching any movies lately? Yes, I went to I know we talked about the Odyssey, which is very loud. My suggestion is to wear earplugs or noise counseling headphones. It's such a loud movie.

But I'm curious if you did you see Project Hail Mary yet? Oh, we talked about before. Believe it or not. Yes, I did. I did see it. I saw it over the weekend.

I liked it. I liked it. It's, you know, it's not my kind of movie necessarily, right? Like other kinds of movies. It's kind of like sci-fi-ish. But I like the premise.

I thought that was really interesting. And I thought Rocky was really cute, right? I might have overhyped it for you. Anyone out there listening is probably like, we're not surprised Lindsay didn't love it.

Aubrey hyped it so much. I apologize for anyone out there if I overhyped it too much. I loved it. No, but yeah, I liked it. And my partner really liked it.

So I think there was something there. There was something there for sure. I'm glad you saw it. And I wanted to ask about it because this is really interesting.

We're getting into the difference of if I could say, did you see Project Hail Mary yet? Or what I need to say, have you seen Project Hail Mary yet and use present perfect? This is so interesting. I'm excited to dive into this.

I know. And if our listeners might be feeling a bit of deja vu at this moment, it's not deja vu, guys. This is something brand new. This is a follow-up episode to a recent episode of the Business English Podcast.

So that's perfect. So by the way, if you don't know what the Business English Podcast is, open your search bar, type in Business English and hit follow. We publish over there three days a week. Right, Aubrey?

Yes. And we'll often do a series where we have part one or two there and part of it here, because a lot often with questions we get or vocabulary that we're covering, it would be a little different at work or here. And so you really need both to get the full story.

Yes, 100%. So over there on Business English, in that episode, we dove into the grammar of past simple versus present perfect. Kind of a very straightforward question, right? From one of our listeners that will mention that now.

Pretty straightforward, clear. We made it very clear to you the difference between the two. But today's going to be a little bit more on the edges. Yes.

right? Yeah, this is really interesting. You can definitely listen to these out of order. So stay to the end. We'll give you details to make sure that you don't miss that episode.

But if you finish today, and you're like, I really want a deeper dive into like, why past simple or present perfect, you'll definitely want to go and check out that part one of this series. Yeah. So the student that inspired the original episode was from YouTube. This is Jess.

And I'm going to read just part of Jess's question here so you can know, gets a little context, guys, of how we're going to answer this today. So we answered it in one way last week and we'll answer it in one way today. All right. All right.

Here it is. In the role play, you said, did you finish your report yet? It sounded strange to me. I would have said, have you finished your report yet?

Could you explain this? Maybe it's a colloquial use of the past simple. Thank you. I appreciate your work so much. Yeah. So this is going to be really interesting.

Be sure to follow Business English and All There's English Podcast so you don't miss these series. But this is really interesting because it's all about the word yet here, right? When yet is placed at the end of a sentence, it functions as an adverb. Usually means until now or so far.

And we usually do hear it with present perfect. I agree with a student. I would usually hear, have you finished your report yet? And it does sound a little like, hmm, why are we using past simple?

And yet we're saying yet. Yeah, because I think that's the way it's taught. That's kind of the textbook way to use it, right? Yet is, I think our listeners were probably taught in school, if you're using yet, you're probably using present perfect, right?

It's like a flag, a trigger. Yes. Right. But I mean, we're going to add a little nuance to that idea today. Yeah, it's not a grammar error. It's not ungrammatical to tack yet onto the end of past simple.

So we're going to dive into this today. But we also want to share, I want to make sure it's clear we use yet. so many ways in English. We do use it in past simple and past perfect.

Those aren't what we're focusing on today, but I want to give just an overview so that you're aware that you're going to see it out there all of these different ways. So past simple, for example, you might say, at that point, I didn't understand it yet. And what about past perfect, Lindsay?

You could say, I hadn't eaten yet when she called. Now, both of these phrases yet is being used very strategically to give context. Exactly. Exactly. So the learner here is asking about something else, though.

So keep in mind, you are going to see yet as well when we're talking about the past like that. But the learner is asking about statements that seem like they require present perfect, but native speakers often use past simple anyway. So that's what we're diving into today. Mm hmm.

So some examples. Have you finished your report yet? Right here. We're obviously using present perfect with yet. Exactly. So we're looking at what the listener these examples the listener shared first that present perfect one.

Have you finished your report yet? We want to look at like, why would a native speaker say one or the other, right? This is more likely to be asked if we haven't spoken about it yet, or we don't know or expect a specific answer, right? Then we're going to use present perfect.

We don't have any kind of anticipation about what the answer might be. So it makes sense to use present perfect. It's all about what you have done or haven't done yet, but still might do. So present perfect makes sense.

But what about past simple? Yes. Yeah. So did you finish your report yet? Is basically using the past simple, did you finish your report? And then slapping on a yet to the end.

So what is the implication here, Aubrey? How's it different? Yeah. And this is subtle nuance, you guys, but there is this implication that we've spoken about it before, or there's some kind of understanding or expectation that it has been completed.

And this is very subtle. There is a chance native speakers would just tack yet onto past simple, and they're not really thinking that through. They're not thinking, I want to make sure that I'm implying that I expect this to be done. It's more subtle than that, right?

But when someone hears this question, have you done that yet versus did you do that yet? They're likely going to feel this a little bit of an implication of, oh, one of these is implying that it's expected that it's done. Yep. It's very, very subtle, but it could be there.

And I agree with you too. Sometimes native speakers will just slap the simple pass plus that yet. You know, they'll just, they'll maybe intend to use the present perfect and then they'll put it in simple pass and include the yet. Yeah.

So that's like so subtle. You can't read too much into this, right? Yeah. Don't read too much into it. Totally. So let's go a little deeper, Aubrey. Tell us more.

Yeah. So let's dive into the structure here and some more examples because we use this and whatever we're talking about, this could happen. So for example, so we're starting with the present perfect. If we have present perfect plus yet, this is the most common.

And the grammar is you just have have or has with the past participle. So a couple examples. I haven't seen that TV show yet. Right. So I'm using present perfect.

There's this little bit of an implication that like it definitely could still happen. Right. Or in our conversation, you mentioned Project Hail Mary last weekend. And then maybe we could have just synced up today.

Did you see Hail Mary yet? Right. Because you would expect it to have happened. Right. Exactly. That's a really good. example. That's why I wanted to use that example because we had talked about it before.

It made sense for me to ask it the way I did because I was sort of expecting a certain answer. Like I've spoken about this so many times. You should have seen it by now. You get tired of saying, have you seen it yet?

Have you seen it? Did you see it yet? Come Come on, right? That's a good point that sometimes we're saying we're using it that way in past simple for emphasis, right?

Did you see that yet? And we're going to change our tone too. Like we're adding more expectation. That's true too. Or let's say broadly, have you eaten lunch yet?

Right? Yeah. And it makes sense. The present perfect here. It naturally connects the past action to now with this open idea of like, it's not too late.

Let's still connects to the present. We could still do that right now. Right. And then moving on to past simple, it's subtle, but it is different, right?

If we have past simple plus yet, this is when you expect something to be done by now. But there's a chance it hasn't been, of course, right? So the grammar for this is did with the base verb. So for example, did you check out that gym yet?

And this is where it's interesting because I really wouldn't ask it that way if we had never talked about it before, right? I might be like, have you considered going to a gym? Have you ever gone to a gym, right? But if we've talked about it before, it makes sense to say, oh, did you check out that gym that we spoke about?

I think some of this could also be based on country too. I feel like I hear have a lot more in British culture, British English. I think in American English, we have a bit of a bias towards the simple past. So it could be that, like I said before, Americans just want to use the simple past, not the present perfect, but they also want to communicate a bit of a present perfect vibe.

So they add yes. That's really interesting. Which makes it even more confusing, right? If you have friends that are British English speakers and American English speakers, the grammar could be different.

The grammar they tend to use could be different, which would make it even more confusing. Sure, for sure. Or you could say, you might hear, I didn't run errands yet, right? So this is okay to say.

It's just a little bit of a slightly different, or maybe we're just, like I said, Aiming for present perfect, but using simple past. Yeah. Interesting.

The slight, slight difference. I would say this if we've talked about it. Like earlier, I told you I was going to run errands. And so now I'm going to say, oh, I didn't run errands yet.

But if we haven't talked about it before ever, then it would make more sense to use present perfect. I haven't run errands. Oh, I was going to run errands, but I haven't done it yet. I totally agree.

That makes a lot of sense. The recency of the topic really matters here. Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Have you ever listened to native speakers and thought, I understand the words, but I still feel slightly lost.

That's because real English conversations include more than vocabulary. There's speed. There's connected speech. There are cultural references and casual phrases.

Your brain has to process all of this in real time. If conversations sometimes feel overwhelming, it may simply mean you're ready for the next level of training. Find out your exact level with our quick, free fluency quiz. Go to allearsenglish.com slash fluency score.

That's allearsenglish.com slash F-L-U-E-N-C-Y-S-C-O-R-E. All right, Aubrey, we are back in action. Let's go for a role play. Shall we do it? Yeah, let's do it.

I'm hosting a get together here and you just arrived. I'll start us out. Okay. Have you eaten yet? There's still plenty of food if you're hungry. I haven't.

No. Okay. Thanks. Oh, Sarah's here. Did you meet her yet? Oh, no, I didn't. Is she the one talking to Mike? Yes. I think they broke up. I actually didn't know that yet when I invited them both.

Oh, okay. Drama. And it's really interesting how yet is what makes this so interesting, right? And it's like you said, depending on where you live, people might not tack yet onto a past simple phrase, but Americans do it.

You don't want to let it confuse you. But yeah, it's interesting to go through these and look at why did we add yet there, right? Mm hmm. Yeah. So this is sometimes something someone might say when you're hosting a party and someone arrives, you might, you know, because you're offering food, right?

Have you eaten yet? Right? Yes, exactly. And especially if there are like snacks. And it's interesting that we're using present perfect. Right. So because assuming you just got to the party, I would be less likely to say, did you eat yet?

Because that feels like it would imply that, you know, we had talked about it before, like present perfect just makes more sense here where I have no information. I have no expectation about what your answer would be. Right. We haven't seen each other all day.

You have no idea what my meal eating has been like today. So there you go. That makes more sense. Have you eaten yet? And then I said, I haven't. No, thanks.

And then you said, oh, Sarah's here. Did you meet her yet? Yeah. Yeah. And this is interesting to think about, right? If we said, have you met her yet?

That's where there's no expectation. So here there would kind of be an assumption that you and I have maybe talked about Sarah and I'm excited for you to meet her maybe, right? So I'm like, oh, did you meet her yet? Or maybe that I had already met her in the party before I saw you, right?

I mean, you greeted me. Maybe walking in the door, we met. Yes, exactly. Right? So this is interesting because both are possible. It's all about context.

Neither of them are grammatically wrong to say, have you met her yet? Did you meet her yet? Right? They both could work. It depends on the subtle implication of what you're implying or what you expect.

And then here's... what you expect. And then here's a question, Aubrey, kind of spontaneous. Would it be okay for me to just say, Oh no, I haven't. I mean, what do you think?

Does it really have to match? I mean, in everyday native English, I'm trying to think. That's a really good point too. I think when, when people are speaking, they don't, they're not really careful to match verb tense like that.

I really don't think so. If you say to me, did you meet her yet? And then I could be like, I haven't actually. No, it doesn't matter. Especially for conversational English.

Yeah. We're not paying that close attention to the verb tense the other person's using. No, because again, connection. Exactly. We're focusing on human connection.

That's what matters in that moment, being open to meeting that new person, greeting the host, showing that you appreciate that there's food there for you. These are all really important connection moments. Exactly. And these are interchangeable enough that a native speaker wouldn't even feel the difference there, right?

Because present perfect, past simple doesn't change that much. So both would definitely work. Yes. Okay. What's the last thing you said, Aubrey? And I said, I actually didn't know that yet when I invited them both.

So I've invited two people who recently broke up, but I'm saying I didn't know that yet when I invited them, right? So I can use past simple here for sure.

And this is actually the past perfect, right? This is the action that happened in the past. I didn't know that yet when that happened. Yeah, I guess simple past plus yet, right?

So we talked about this earlier in the episode where we talked about we're orienting the person into the past, right? Of what was known at the time that something happened. So it's really two steps back, right?

That's what we're doing here. Yeah. Interesting. All right. So good stuff. So clearly we're breaking some rules over here, right? In everyday spoken American English compared to what our listeners learned in the textbook.

Is it okay though? I think it's okay. Definitely. That's an interesting way to put it is like, if you learned something, you know, in a textbook, and it felt like a really strong rule, then it's confusing when native speakers don't follow it, right?

It might seem like they're breaking rules. But a lot of things like this aren't really official rules, right? None of this is really a mistake. The only rule, again, is to focus on connection.

Guys, go over to Business English 637, did or have, that is approaching this exact question, but from a slightly different perspective. So we're sort of answering a different question in that episode. Exactly, right? That's part one.

You could get a deeper dive there into why do we choose past simple or present perfect? So yeah, but it's still, this is a fun way to handle grammar. When we get these interesting questions, students who are paying attention to the grammar, recognizing native speakers that are doing something unexpected, then it's fun to dive into why, what about the connection changes, what's implied, depending on the verb tense you use. Yes.

Really good topic. Aubrey, final takeaway on grammar rules, breaking grammar rules, different versions of grammar rules. Right? Like you said, Lindsay, the connection is the most important thing, right?

Don't worry about the grammar and what exactly does this imply? Don't let that stop you from starting a conversation and holding you back. Love it. All right.

Good stuff today, Aubrey. I'll see you back here very soon. You have a good day. All right. Awesome. See you next time. Okay. Bye. Thanks for listening to All Ears English.

Would you like to know your English level? Take our two minute quiz. Go to allearsenglish.com forward slash fluency score. And if you believe in connection, not perfection, then hit subscribe now to make sure you don't miss anything.

See you next time. So entspannt kann Finanzieren sein. Mit Easy Credit.