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Can you tell me which ones of these correct?

  1. "Together we experienced our first joy ride." or "Together we have experienced our first joy ride."
  2. "Together we learnt to ride bicycle." or "Together we have learnt to ride bicycle."

Context: These sentences are going to be a part of a greeting card I am designing for a friend to reminisce about the good times we have spent together. He is still a friend and we are going to spend more good times in future.

I have read this beautiful answer at https://english.stackexchange.com/a/63263/18396 but I am unable to resolve my question inspite of reading this. Since "first joy ride" and "learnt to ride bicycle" were in the past, it seems like simple past tense is appropriate. But as per "Existential sense of perfect" in the answer, present perfect seems to be appropriate too.

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Lone Learner
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  • We experienced our first joy ride together, and We learned to ride our bicycles together. – Elliott Frisch Jun 26 '14 at 05:21
  • @ElliottFrisch Why doesn't the "Existential sense of perfect" apply in these cases? – Lone Learner Jun 26 '14 at 05:40
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    Because your examples aren't sentences that indicate the existence of past events in English. My versions are and do. Here in Atlanta we use learnt colloquially, it's still jarring to see it written. – Elliott Frisch Jun 26 '14 at 05:44
  • @ElliottFrisch Thank you for the clarification. However, I am having difficulty understanding this concept. As far as I understand, "Together we experienced our first joy ride" is indicating the existence of a past event where the past event is "experienced our first joy ride". Where am I making a mistake? – Lone Learner Jun 26 '14 at 06:16

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You are making a mistake by placing a past event into a (possibly) near past experience that is carrying over in a particular manner into the present.

Together we experienced our first joy ride.

Simple past, and accurate. Happened in the past and belongs there.

Together we have experienced our first joy ride. (wrong)

That tense is the present perfect. We often use the Present Perfect to talk about change that has happened over a period of time. It is also used to express a past event that has present consequences.

Together we have experienced our first joy ride. Now, let's go rob a bank! (correct)

(You do know that a joy ride is taken in a stolen car, right?)

anongoodnurse
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  • But this answer at http://english.stackexchange.com/a/63263/18396 implies that present perfect can be used for past events too (See the second point about "Existential sense of perfect"). My sentence is indicating an existence of a past event. Then why can't it be written in present perfect tense? – Lone Learner Jun 26 '14 at 07:36
  • Please, take my word for it. I'm a native AmE speaker, as is Elliott Frisch. The existential sense of perfect is for something that recurs or is timeless, or when no particular past time frame is specified for the action/event, or when the precise time isn't known. Re-read that answer to which you refer, please. You will see he states "five times". Your sentence states "first". If you wrote "Together we have experienced five joy rides", it would be fine. :) – anongoodnurse Jun 26 '14 at 07:53
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    @medica So it was you that robbed those five banks! Book her on the grand theft auto, we'll sort it out at the station. – Elliott Frisch Jun 27 '14 at 02:52