Present Perfect Tense

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The Present perfect simple tense:

  1. The affirmative Present perfect simple tense
  2. The negative present perfect simple tense
  3. The interrogative the present perfect simple tense
  4. When to use the past simple tense

 

The affirmative Present perfect simple tense:

It consists of have/ has + the past participle form of the verb (pp):

I, we, you, they + have + pp

He, she, it +has + pp

For example:

I have studied hard for two years.

Sam has played football since 2010.

China has taken the third place in phones industry for 2 years.

The kids have cut 5 papers.

 

The past participle form of the verb (pp) is the third form of conjugating the verb and there is two ways for getting it according to the verb type:

Regular verbs: 

We get the second form of the regular verbs by adding (-ed) to the verb ending in the same way we get the second form:

For example:

  • start: started: started
  • watch: watched: watched
  • wash: washed: washed

If the verb ends with (-e), we add (-d) only.

For example:

  • estimate: estimated: estimated
  • smile: smiled: smiled

If the verb ends with (-y), there are 2 cases:

1. If the (-y) is preceded by a vowel as in (play), we add (-ed) as known.

  • play: played: played
  • stay: stayed: stayed

2. If the If the (-y) is preceded by a consonant as in (cry), we replace the (-y) with (-ied).

For example:

  • cry: cried: cried
  • fry: fried: fried

There is no rule for getting the third form (just like second form of the irregular verbs), so mainly we have to memorize them. In this pattern, there are 2 kinds of irregular verbs:

1. Irregular verbs with identical first, second and third forms.

For example:

  • shut: shut: shut
  • cut: cut: cut

2. Irregular verbs with different first, second and third form.

For example:

  • write: wrote: written
  • take: took: taken
  • eat: ate: eaten
  • see: saw: seen
  • go: went: gone
  • come: came: come

 

Note: there are 3 important verbs that you need to memorize as you are most likely need them:

to be:

  • I am: I was: I have been
  • We, you, they are: We, you, they were: We, you, they: have been
  • He, she, it is: He, she, it was: He, she, it has been

to have:

  • Have: had: had

For example: I have had dinner since long time.

to do:

Do: did: done

 

The negative present perfect simple tense:

The subject + have/has + not + pp

For example:

I have not eaten rice for dinner since long time.

Mel has not come home yet.

 

The interrogative the present perfect simple tense:

How to make questions using the present perfect simple tense:

Have/ has + the subject + pp..?

For example:

Question: Have they ever been to London?

Answer:

They have never been to London/ Yes, they have been to London.

Note: when constructing questions with question words, we add the question word before the last formulae as in:

Question: Where have you been before?

Answer: I have been to London before/ I have not been anywhere outside my home town yet.

 

When to use the past simple tense?

Words that express the past simple tense:

1. To express actions that started in the past and are still continuing till our present time (using for/ since)

For example:

I have studied English for 5 years.

2. To express things that happened recently (using just/ already)

For example:

Emil has just received good news.

3. To express actions that have not happened (using never/ yet)

For example:

Nancy and Alfred have not met yet.

We have never met.

Note: “never” is used in an affirmative sentence and gives the meaning of “not”.

4. To express quantity or numbers.

For example:

I have talked to Elizabeth already.

5. The present perfect tense comes with the following words:

Since, for, yet, already, just, so far, up till now, ever, never, over the time, lately, recently, etc.