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You are here: Home / English lessons / The difference between BEEN and GONE

The difference between BEEN and GONE

18th February 2019 by Andrew

This lesson explains the difference between “been” and gone” in the context of visiting a place.

Both “been” and “gone” can be used to describe visiting a place but there is an important difference in meaning.

Let’s start by looking at the form and then we’ll look at the difference in meaning.

“been” is the past participle of the verb “be”
“gone” is the past participle of the verb “go”


When discussing travel to places, we mainly use “been” and “gone” as the past participle in the present perfect tense.

Present perfect of “be”

I have been to the park
you have been to the park
he / she / it    has been to the park
we have been to the park
you have been to the park
they have been to the park

Present perfect of “go”

I have gone to the park
you have gone to the park
he / she / it has   gone to the park
we have gone to the park
you have gone to the park
they have gone to the park

Let’s now look at the difference in meaning.

Meaning of been

We use “been” to describe a completed visit of a place.
We visited the place in the past but in the present we are no longer there.
We have since left the place.

Example:

park
He has been to the park.
(He visited the park in the past. Now, he is back home.)

Also, we often use “been” to describe someone’s travel experience.

Example:

paris
Have you ever been to Paris? correct
Yes, I have been to Paris 3 times. correct

We do not use “gone” for this meaning and use.

Have you ever gone to Paris? wrong
Yes, I have gone to Paris 3 times. wrong

Meaning of gone

We use “gone” to describe a visit of a place and the visit is not completed.
We travelled to the place in the past and in the present we are still there or still travelling to the place.

Example:
He has gone to the park.

(He travelled to the park in the past and he is still there or still travelling there.)

We use “gone” to say where someone is and explain why they are not here. Imagine you go to Jane and Mark’s house to talk to Mark:

Andrew: Hi Jane. Is Mark here?
Jane: No, he’s not here. He has gone to the supermarket. correct

We do not use “been” for this meaning and use.

Jane: No, he’s not here. He has been to the supermarket. wrong
(Although this is grammatically correct, this is not the correct use of “been” because Mark has not yet returned from the supermarket.)

I wait for Mark at his house. When he arrives 1 hour later he says:

Mark: Hi. I have been to the supermarket. I bought some wine. correct

wine
(Now this is the correct use of “been” because Mark is now here. He has now returned.)

Since he has returned, we do not use “gone” to describe this situation:
Mark: Hi. I have gone to the supermarket. I bought some wine. wrong

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Samantha says

    5th August 2020 at 1:10 am

    How can i found this types of online English lesson please

  2. Zubeyr Adam Hassan says

    19th November 2020 at 4:30 am

    Thank you.

    • Sinterklaas says

      10th November 2022 at 6:08 pm

      Ok

    • Sinterklaas says

      10th November 2022 at 6:08 pm

      OMGGGGG

  3. Kyounghee says

    26th January 2021 at 9:44 pm

    Hi, there.

    I really appreciate what you did. It is very clear and easy to understand.
    But I’ve got a question. I can see you explained that ‘been’ is the past participle of ‘be’ and made an example ‘I’ve been to Paris.’ So, does that mean I can say ‘verb to be + to + place’? For example, if I make a present simple sentence, would it be ‘ I am to park.’? I am a little bit confused, can you be kind and explain it?

  4. Saidil says

    1st February 2021 at 5:37 pm

    Same as well as confused me too

  5. Saidil says

    1st February 2021 at 5:39 pm

    Thanks so much for your awesome understanding process

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