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Present Perfect
The Present Perfect is used to express actions that happened at an indefinite time or that began in the past and continue in the present. This tense is also used when an activity has an effect on the present moment.
Note: later in this article, Preset Perfect will be abbreviated as PP.
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Use
- Actions which happened at an indefinite (unknown) time before now
- Actions in the past which have an effect on the present moment
- Actions which began in the past and continue in the present
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Click to read about "for" and "since".
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Form
The structure of PP is not very easy because it requires some pratice to get used to it. To correctly form Present Perfect sentences, you should know these:
- the proper conjugation of the verb "have" (=auxiliary verb) [1]
- Past Participle [2]
[1]
We conjugate the auxialiary verb "to have" the same as we would conjugate the verb "to have".
| Singular form | Plural form | |
|---|---|---|
| First person | I have | We have |
| Second person | You have | You have |
| Third person | He/she/it has | They have |
As you can see, the third person singular (he/she/it has) is irregular. Examples:
- She has never seen my brother
- Neither of my brothers has ever driven a truck
[2]
To correctly form a sentence in the PP, we also need the past participle. You can read a nice article about the past participle here. In short it is the verb from that is used with the perfect tenses.
Same as the past form, the past participle can be either regular or irregular.
The regular verbs are typically formed by adding -ed. Read an article about regular verbs.
| Verb | Past Participle |
|---|---|
| talk | talked |
| explain | explained |
| use | used |
| deliver | delivered |
| include | included |
| achieve | achieved |
| Verb | Past Participle | More conjugation |
|---|---|---|
| be | been | be |
| become | become | become |
| see | seen | see |
| go | gone | go |
| eat | eaten | eat |
| grow | grown | grow |
Declarative sentences:
| Subject | + | Auxiliary verb | + | Past participle |
| I/a dog etc. | has/have | slept/gone etc. |
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| Examples | Use | |
 |
We have already had breakfast | (Use 1) |
|
I have bought new shades | (Use 2) |
|
I have already been to Paris | (Use 1) |
|
John has been a plumber for 2 years | (Use 3) |
|
Someone has just taken my bag! | (Use 1,2) |
|
Jane has never been so angry | (Use 3) |
|
He has been our most serious partner for so long that I can assure you he's a very decent man | (Use 3) |
Questions:
| Auxiliary verb | + | Subject | + | Past participle |
| has/have | I/a dog etc. | slept/gone etc. |
| Examples | Use | |
|
Have you ever seen this program? | (Use 1) |
|
Where has she lived for the past 21 years? | (Use 3) |
|
Have you found the telephone number? | (Use 1,2) |
|
Have you ever been to France? |
(Use 1) |
|
Has anyone taken my bag? | (Use 1,2) |
In sentences with adverbials such as ever, already and yet, Americans may use the Past Simple rather than the Present Perfect. So an American would say:
- Did you go to the post office yet?
And a British man:
- Have you gone to the post office yet?
Negative sentences:
| Subject | + | Auxiliary verb + not | + | Past participle |
| I/a dog etc. | hasn't/haven't | slept/gone etc. |
| Examples | Use | |
|
He hasn't taken any drug for two years | (Use 3) |
|
I haven't met my perfect partner yet | (Use 3) |
|
They haven't contacted you, have they? | (Use 1) |