Present perfect simple or continuous? Ask BBC Learning English

'I've done' or 'I've been doing'.

What's the difference?

Let's look at this question from Juan.

I want to know: What is the difference between present perfect

and present perfect continuous?

Sometimes they can be very similar.

I've worked at the BBC for 8 years.

I've been working at the BBC for 8 years.

So, here, both sentences are correct and they connect the past with the present.

But let's look at five differences. Using the present

perfect simple emphasises that an action is complete.

It has an effect on the present, but the action has finished.

Someone has eaten my chocolates!

They're all gone.

Using the present perfect continuous emphasises that the action is ongoing.

Someone has been eating my chocolates.

There's only a few left.

The action may continue in the future.

We use the present perfect simple to focus on the result of an action.

I've chopped the onions.

What's next?

So, the result is: the onions are ready.

We use the present perfect continuous to focus on the doing of an action.

I'm not crying - I've just been chopping onions.

So here, the focus is on doing the action itself – the chopping of onions,

so doing this action made me cry.

We also use the present perfect continuous

when we can see some evidence of an action that happened a short time ago.

The action is completed, but we can still see the evidence.

I've been cooking all day so the kitchen's a mess.

We use the present perfect simple to focus on how many, or how often.

It's rained every day this week.

I've had four coffees today.

We use the present perfect continuous

if the focus is on how long – often with phrases like all morning,

all day, for ages.

It's been raining all day!

I've been drinking coffee all morning, and I'm still tired!

Careful though: state verbs, we don't normally use in the continuous.

I've been knowing Beth for three years.

I've known Beth for three years.

And finally, we can use the present perfect continuous to emphasise

that our situation is temporary.

I've broken my leg, so I've been working from home lately.

OK, so that was Juan's question, but we want to hear from you,

so send us your questions to our email address.

Well, I've been talking for about three minutes

and hopefully you have now understood the difference.

But for more information, check out the links below.