THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE

 We use was with I

 We use were with we, you, they and with all plural subjects
 We use was with he, she, it and all singular subjects in the third person.

Example:

I was a student at the time (siswa pada saat itu)

We were there yesterday (di sana kemarin)
She was busy last night (sibuk tadi malam)
They were at the beach last Saturday (di pantai Sabtu lalu)

 We use read, studied, stopped, lived, and went with: I, we, you, they, and he, she, it,
and all singular and plural subjects (semua subyek tunggal dan jamak.

Example:
I visited Bali last year.
They went to China yesterday.
Thomas A Edison invented Electricity.

THE SIMPLE PAST TENSE is a verb form that is used to express:

1. One action which happened or took place at a particular time in the past (satu aktivitas
yang terjadi/berlangsung pada waktu tertentu di masa lalu/waktu lampau).
 You were there yesterday
 He was in Japan last month
 Rine met her old friend yesterday
 They went to China last night.
2. Repeated, habitual activities in the past (Aktivitas yang merupakan kebiasaa, berulang-
ulang di masa lampau)
 He used to have five goats and two cows (Dia dulu punya 5 kambing dan 2 sapi)
 I always went to mosque at night (Saya dulu selalu pergi ke masjid pada malam
hari).
TIME MARKERS that are usually used:
 yesterday (kemarin), for example: yesterday afternoon, yesterday morning
  last (kemarin), for example: last night, last week
 ago (yang lalu), for example: two day ago
 in (pada tahun), for example: in 1975
 at (pada pukul). for example at 7.00, at 8.30
 for (selama), for example: for 25 years
 from ... to ... (dari ... sampai), for exampleL from 5 years to 50
 when (ketika), for example: when I was young, .... , etc

NOTE:

These time markers: sometimes, always, never, often, each year, year after year can be
used to describe repeated habitual actions (aktivitas kebiasaan yang terus-menerus).

THE PRESENT PERFECT TENSE

Bentuk dar the Simple Perfect Tense : has read, has just returned and have lived
Rita has read the letter : Rita telah membaca surat
Rita has just returned from school : Rita baru saja telah kembali dari sekolahan
Those people have lived in Java for 25 years old : Orang-orang ini telah tinggal di Jawa
selama 25 tahun.

The Present Perfect Tense is a verb form that is used to express:

1. An action has completed before the present tense (Suatu aktivitas yang telah selesai
dilaksanakan sebelum sekarang)
 I have lost my chance to study abroad (Saya telah kehilangan kesempatan untuk
belajar di luar negeri)
2. An action that has an effect on the present situation (Suatu aktivitas yang telah selesai
dikerjakan dan hasil atau akibatnya bisa dirasakan saat ini)
 Tommy has seen that film twice (Tommy telah nonton film itu dua kali. Artinya dia
sudah tahu jalan/isi ceritanya).
3. An activity or a state that has continued for a period of time from a point in the past
until the present (Suatu aktivitas yang berlangsung selama kurun waktu tertentu sampai
saat ini belum selesai dan masih berlangsung hingga saat ini).
 Betty has got married to Rico since 1990 (Betty telah menikah dengan Rico sejak
tahun 1990)
 He has worked for PT. Freeport Indonesia (Dia telah bekerja pada PT Freeport)
TIME MARKERS that are usually used:
 already (sudah)
 just (baru saja)
 not yet (belum)
 since (sejak)
 for (selama)

NOTE:

 We use The Present Perfect Tense when we are interested in the action that has been
completed or finished. (Kita menggunakan The Present Perfect Tense ketika kita tertarik
pada aktivitas yang telah selesai). We are interested in the result of the action NOT the
action itself (Kita tertarik pada hasil aktivitas itu bukan aktivitasnya sendiri)
 We use The Present Perfect Tense when we wish to say how much we have done, or
how many times we have done something. (ingin mengatakan seberapa banyak kita
telah lakukan, atau berapa kali kita telah melakukan sesuatu).