Present Perfect helps you communicate about life experience, unfinished time, recent results and situations continuing to now. Start with the meaning, notice the pattern, and then use it in complete sentences.
By the end of this lesson, you can
- I can connect past actions and experiences to the present.
- Recognise and build the form: have/has + past participle.
- Use the pattern accurately in a meaningful sentence.
Meaning and use
Use Present Perfect for life experience, unfinished time, recent results and situations continuing to now. Always read the whole situation before choosing the form: grammar expresses a meaning, not only a pattern.
I have seen that film three times.
Use the present perfect for repeated experience without a finished past time.
She has finished her report, so she can go home now.
Use the present perfect when a recent action has a present result.
Have you ever tried Vietnamese coffee?
Use 'Have ... ever + past participle' to ask about life experience.
have/has + past participleKeep this pattern visible while you study the examples. Then cover it and rebuild one example from memory.
Key rules to notice
These rules explain why the form is correct. Focus on the subject, auxiliary, verb form, word order and time or meaning clues.
- Use the present perfect for repeated experience without a finished past time.
- Use the present perfect when a recent action has a present result.
- Use 'Have ... ever + past participle' to ask about life experience.
- Use the present perfect with 'since' for a situation continuing to now.
- Use 'hasn't + past participle' with 'yet' for an unfinished expected action.
Common mistakes
Not:I saw that film three times.
Use:I have seen that film three times.
Use the present perfect for repeated experience without a finished past time.
Not:She finished her report, so she can go home now.
Use:She has finished her report, so she can go home now.
Use the present perfect when a recent action has a present result.
Not:Did you ever tried Vietnamese coffee?
Use:Have you ever tried Vietnamese coffee?
Use 'Have ... ever + past participle' to ask about life experience.
Check before you practise
Complete each sentence mentally, then reveal the answer.
We ____ here since 2020.
have lived
Use the present perfect with 'since' for a situation continuing to now.
Tom ____ arrived yet.
hasn't
Use 'hasn't + past participle' with 'yet' for an unfinished expected action.
The train has ____ left.
just
'Just' commonly appears with the present perfect for a very recent event.