Past Simple vs Present Perfect

Flowchart nodes

• Do you say WHEN it happened?

• Use Past Simple: I joined this company last year.

• Past Simple or Present Perfect?

• YES

• Use Present Perfect: I've just joined this company.

• NO

• Is this a RECENT event?

• No, it is a finished action in the past, and it happened in a finished period of time.

• Yes, it happened this week/month/year,  and this period of time isn't over yet

• Use Past Simple: I started this project back in 2015.

• Use Present Perfect: This month, I've already sold 20 cars.

• Did you do it ONCE?

• YES

• Use Past Simple: I heard about this company.

• NO

• Use Present Perfect: I've heard about this company five times!