the simple tense is quite diffrent from the french simple
prenset to understand betteer the diffrence I am going to make a clear comparison to show students of english the was e!" #$ ecris une lettre is translated b either the present simple or present continuous hence the translation becomes as follow" %& I am writing a letter ' (present continuous) *& I write a letter' (present simple) so in english the french e!ample gi+es us both present simple and present continuous,That means to make the e!act meaning in french an other e!tra e!pression is u'-))))) EXp ; yesterday, I went to Paris It is used for a specific moment in the past with the use of time expressions ; yesterday ; last week ; ago ; date etc In the questions with When exp When did you !isit paris " Past continouous #u$%ect & was' were' & !er$& ing (he use (hs simple past is used to speak a$out a past action that was in the process at a specific moment in the past Exp last summer at this moment, I was preparing my pro%ect It is also used with while to speak a$out the concurrence of two actions Exp Whine I was reading a no!el, my wife was speaking to her $oss ) It is used with simple past to express an action that was interrupted Exp when i was watching t! the light went off The present perfect (he form su$%ect & ha!e'has&past participle (he use the present perfect is used to relate a past action with present result Exp I ha!e lost my keys) *a!e you seen them +ack " Exp Patrcia has washed the dishes) ,- they are clean now. It is used with %ust to express a past action near now Exp I ha!e %ust finished It is used with already yet Exp I ha!e alrady watched Exp she has not arri!ed yet) It is used with since Exp I ha!e studied french since /012 Exp I ha!e studied french for 3 years)