Went vs Gone
Difference between went and gone is very simple to understand, if you clearly understand the tenses in English grammar. The word went is the past tense form of the verb ‘go’. On the other hand, the word gone is the past participle form of the verb ‘go’. In fact it is used in the past perfect or present perfect tense. This is the main difference between the two words went and gone. As a matter of fact, the word went and gone belong to the class of irregular verbs. Such verbs that have different past and past participle forms to their present tense are called irregular verbs. The verb ‘go’ becomes ‘went’ in past tense. Then, it becomes ‘gone’ in the past perfect or present perfect tense. It is important to know that both the words, went and gone, are used only as verbs.
What does Went mean?
Went is the past tense of the verb ‘to go.’ Go means to travel from one place to another. Observe the two sentences given below.
The boy went to the school.
She went to church.
In both the sentences, you can find that the verb went is used as simple past tense form of the verb ‘go’. It is understood that the action took place sometime ago. The boy went to school some time ago and she went to church some time ago. So, we are talking about something that happened in the past. As a result, we use went. This is the significance of the usage of the verb went.
What does Gone mean?
Gone is the past participle of the verb ‘to go.’ Go means to travel from one place to another. Observe the two sentences given below.
He has gone to his home town.
She had gone to London then.
In both the sentences, you can find that the verb gone is used in the perfect tense form. In the first sentence, the verb gone is used as the present perfect tense form, and in the second sentence the verb gone is used as the past perfect tense form.
When gone is used with ‘to have’ that means of a visit. However, you should remember that this means the person you are speaking about has travelled somewhere but has not returned yet. Look at the example.
She has gone to Spain.
So, she is still in Spain. This means she has travelled to Spain, but has not come back from Spain.
What is the difference between Went and Gone?
• The word went is the past tense form of the verb ‘go’.
• Go means to travel from one place to another.
• On the other hand, the word gone is the past participle form of the verb ‘go’.
• Gone is used with perfect tenses such as past perfect and present perfect.
• When gone is used with ‘to have’ that means of a visit.
These are the important differences between the two verbs, namely, went and gone.