The Mistake 90% of German Professionals Make With the Present Perfect — and How to Fix It
Quick test. Which sentence sounds right in English?
❌ “I have visited the trade fair yesterday.”
✅ “I visited the trade fair yesterday.”
If you picked the first one, congratulations — you’ve just joined the 90%. 😉
Here’s the deal: in German, “ich habe gestern … besucht” feels perfectly natural. So German professionals often carry that structure straight into English. The problem? In English, yesterday = past simple. Always.
I once had a client laugh and say, “Christine, I’ve been making this mistake for 20 years. I thought it was my personal style!”
The fix is simple:
👉 Use present perfect for no time (“I have visited the fair many times”).
👉 Use past simple for specific time (“I visited yesterday”).
💬 Next time you say “I have yesterday…” — smile. You’ve just spoken classic Denglish.
…and when do I use present perfekt continous, past perfect and past perfect continuous? 😉
Haha, good one, Kurt! Here’s the quick and painless version 👇
Present perfect continuous → still happening, focus on how long.
➡️ I’ve been working here for 10 years. (…and yes, still alive!)
Past perfect → something happened before another past event.
➡️ I had finished the report before the meeting started.
Past perfect continuous → same idea, but you want to show how long before that event.
➡️ I had been waiting for an hour before the train arrived.
In short:
Simple = done.
Continuous = in progress.
Perfect = connecting timelines.
English tenses — the world’s most polite time machine. 😄
What a lovely way to describe English tenses. 😍 So quintessentially British!
Thank you!, Kurt. I suppose my British roots show now and then. 😉
Apologies for the „k“ in present perfect continuous!
Which bares the question whether spelling mistakes are more to focus on then using the wrong tenses…
Hi Kurt,
You know… I didn’t even see the spelling mistake. So there’s nothing to worry about! 😉
I am an absolute stickler for spelling mistakes…
Haha, then I’d better proofread twice before sending you anything! 😉