Oh, wow, I've definitely
never been there before. Have you been there before? While we're on that topic: Hey, everyone, I'm Alex. Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson
on two commonly used and sometimes confused words in English. And those two words
are: "been" and "gone". Now, these two words, I say they are commonly
used and sometimes confused because they are often used in a similar way, in a similar
context, but there is one situation where only one of them works. Before we begin: What is
"been", what is "gone"? Grammatically, these
are past participles. And today we're specifically going to look at
how to use them with perfect tenses, because the confusion with the two words usually
happens in the perfect tenses themselves. So, first let's look at "been". Notice the arrows
that I drew here. So, if you have been to a place, this means
that you went there and you returned. So, for example: "He's
been to India." And by the way, this "he's", this means: "he has been
in this situation", this is the present perfect. "He's been to India." He went and he
returned in his life. This is a life
experience that he had. Okay? So you can say: "I've been to
India.", "I've been to Disney Land.", "I've been to Niagara Falls." So, if you want to talk about life experience
where you went to a place, you returned from the place, it's behind you, it's in the past,
it's done, it's in your life experience, "been" is usually the word
you want to go with. Next: "gone". Now, I'm going to look at "gone" in a specific
context which basically means you went to a place and you're still
there, and you went recently. So, for example: "He's
gone to India". -"Where's Frank?" -"Frank's not in Canada, man.
He's gone to India." This means recently
Hank left Canada... Did I say Hank or Frank? Frank or Hank? How do you not remember? That's okay, let's keep going. "Hank/Frank, Hankfrank,
Frankhank has gone to India." So, he went to India
maybe two days ago. He's in India now. Let's look at some more of these
examples with "been" and "gone". "Been". "I've never been to China." Okay? Life experience, I've never been and
returned, I have never visited China. "They had been there before." So we're using the past
perfect tense, here. They had visited that
location before. Ah: "We will have been in Montreal
for three years by then." Now, here, it's actually
slightly different. Right? Because you're not saying that you went to
Montreal and you returned to Montreal, but that you have lived in Montreal for
three years, or: "We will have lived", "We will have been in Montreal
for three years by then." So, here is a different sense. Here, you're saying
that in three years: "Oh, we will have been in Montreal
for three years by that time", by a specific time
in the future. Okay? So, a different way
to use "been". Now, again, remember "been" is the past participle
of the verb "be", and after "be" you can use many, many, many, many different things,
so you can talk about your age. Right? You can talk about
adjectives, your feelings. You can follow the verb "to
be" with a continuous form. Right? So: "He's been playing", "He's
been reading", "He's been doing". For this lesson I specifically want to focus
on using it to talk about travel and life experience with visiting places
and returning from places. "Gone", okay. "Jack's not here.
He's gone home." Now, here we're using
the present perfect. One of the uses for the present perfect is to
talk about something that happened recently. Okay? And you can still see the effects,
or something that just happened. So: -"Where's Jack?" -"Oh, Jack's not here. He's gone home. He
has gone home." Not: "He's been home", that means he went home and
he returned, and it's a weird kind of sentence. Maybe, unless he went
for lunch, I guess. And here's another one: "She's
gone grocery shopping". -"Hey, where is Matilda?" -"Matilda's not here. She
has gone grocery shopping." Okay? So she went recently,
she's there now. Next one, ah: "They've
gone on vacation." So your neighbours are not here, you
notice their car is not in the driveway. "Hey, where are the Hendersons?" -"Oh, the Hendersons are not here.
They've gone on vacation." Okay? And last one: "He's
gone to work". -"Mom, where's dad?" -"Dad's not home. He's gone to work." Okay? Recently he left the house,
he went to work, he's at work now. Now, you could also say if it's the end of
the day: -"Hey, did you go to work today?" -"Yeah, I've been to work." Okay? So, I've been to work today. Next: What did I do here? "I've never been or
gone there before." Curious. Curious. Now, I did mention here-right?-that usually
"been" is used when you want to talk about a place you have visited
and you've returned from. "Gone" usually used to mean that you have
gone to a place, you went to a place, and you are still there now. But really, when you're talking about life
experience, in speaking sometimes people use these words interchangeably. Okay? So: "I've never been there before.",
"I've never gone there before." Here, I said: "I've never been to
China.", "I've never gone to China." If I say both of those, no one is really
going to think I'm making a mistake. Okay? So if you do say:
"I've never gone to China", "I've never gone to China",
"I've never been to China", "I've never been to China",
it's not a huge mistake. Okay? What I really want you to focus on is that
in most contexts, if you want to be safe, if you want to talk about life experience,
stick with "been", if you want to talk about something that just happened and you want
to say the person is still there, still at the location, use "gone". So: "He's been to India." Life experience. "He's gone to India." Recently, he went yesterday. So, when you're thinking about "gone" in this
situation, a little trick you can use is ask yourself: "Where is he? Where is she? Where are they?" And if they're not here: "Oh, he's gone to
India.", "He's gone grocery shopping.", "They've gone on vacation.", "He's
gone to his brother's house." Okay? So, for "gone", if you can ask yourself the
question: "Where is ____?" then you can use "gone" in this case. And one more, before you guys ask
me this question in the comments. You might say: "Alex, why would I
say: 'He's gone grocery shopping'? Why don't I just say: 'He
went grocery shopping'?" Excellent question,
such a good question. So, remember, simple past, action that
happened in the past and is finished. Right? So: "He went grocery shopping", "He
went let's say five minutes ago". Present perfect, specifically for present perfect
in this case: "He's gone grocery shopping" means that, you know, something that started
in the past has continued into the present. Really, you can use both. You can say: "He went grocery shopping", "He's
gone grocery shopping", and you won't be wrong in either case because you can mentally think
that you're referring to an action where he went, he left the house, your focus
is on the period he left the house. "He went grocery shopping". -"Where is he?" -"He's gone grocery shopping." The action started in the past, is still true
now because he's still there now, so your focus changes. Both are correct. Okay, that's it. Are you confused? Do you feel better? Is it less confusing? Hopefully it's less
confusing now. If you're really not sure, obviously
you can watch the video again. Check out tons of resources, like, on Google
or wherever else on the internet, preferably on engVid on this subject. And if you really want to test your understanding of
it, you can check out the quiz on www.engvid.com. And while you're on engVid, don't forget to
check me out on Facebook and Twitter, and also subscribe to
my YouTube channel. So you can either subscribe to the channel
directly through YouTube or go to my, like, little, you know, profile page and find my
YouTube link if you are watching this on engVid. Til next time,
thanks for clicking. Bye.
