Present perfect and past simple in this context. What's the difference?

Question

A: When was the last time we saw each other?

B: About 7 years ago.

A: What has happened in your life since then?

B: A lot of things have happened. My cat gave birth to 5 kittens, I got married, I changed 3 jobs, I bought a new car.

or

B: A lot of things have happened. My cat has given birth to 5 kittens, I've got married, I have changed 3 jobs, I have bought a new car.

My question is this: what difference is there between the two? Does the "I've got married" mean that I am still married while "I got married" may mean that I am no longer married, does "I've bought a new car" mean I still have it while "I bought a car" means or can mean I don't have it now? Anything else?

Answer 1

The past tense and the perfect are both ways to talk about past events.

"I've bought a car" doesn't mean "I still have it". But by choosing the perfect makes some connection to the present. That might be "I now have a car" or it might be "I now know how to drive" or just "I know know what buying a car is like".

The exact nature of the connection to the present isn't explicit. But there is some connection made. The most likely connection is that "I still have the car now", but that isn't a fact that can be deduced only from the grammar. We do use "Have you ever bought a car?/ Yes I have" with no implication of still owning a car.

The past tense just mentions events in the past, it doesn't say anything about the present. So "I bought a car" doesn't mean you don't own it. It just mentions a past event. You might still have the car, or not.

In your context, a speaker might just use the perfect to match the tense in the question. The perfect in the question is to ask about events at an indeterminate time in the last seven years.

There is a notable dialect difference. British English speakers are significantly more likely to choose the perfect in this kind of situation.

Answer 2

The present perfect talks about the past and the present. The simple past talks about the past.

I have bought a car. We are thinking of the present result of the action. You have a car now. (The car is yours now.)

I bought a car. We are thinking of the action in the past. We don't know whether You have the car now.

We use the present perfect to give new information. If we continue to talk about it we use the simple past tense.

A lot of things have happened. My cat gave birth to 5 kittens, I got married, I changed 3 jobs, I bought a new car.

We use the present perfect with today, this week etc. We use the simple past with yesterday, five minutes ago, on Monday, last week etc.

I have got married this week. I got married last year.

'I got married' does not mean that I am no longer married. The action happened in the past. It focuses on the past event.

I have seen him this morning (It is still morning)

I saw him this morning (It is later in the day, it is afternoon or evening)