The Present Perfect vs The Present Perfect Continuous | ALL differences (+ Free PDF & Quiz)

Hello everyone, and welcome back

to English with Lucy.

Today, I have got a grammar lesson for you.

We are going to be looking

at two very similar and confusing tenses.

I know that a lot

of my students struggle with these.

Take a look at these two sentences.

I have lived in England for three years.

I have been living in England for three years.

Do they mean the same thing?

Today we are looking at the present perfect,

and the present perfect continuous.

In some situations, they mean the same thing,

and in other situations,

they mean different things.

There's a lot to cover in this lesson,

but I want to let you know

that to further help your understanding

and your learning journey,

I have created a free PDF

that goes with this lesson.

It's got everything we're going to cover,

and it's got a quiz

so you can check your understanding.

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Let's get started with the lesson.

We use the present perfect

and the present perfect continuous

for both finished and unfinished actions.

Let's take a quick look

at how we form them,

before we start comparing them.

So the present perfect is,

have has plus the past participle.

I have worked.

The negative, have and has plus not

plus the past participle, I have not worked.

And as a question, have or has,

plus the subject, plus the past participle.

Have I worked? (laughing)

Now let's take a look

at how we form the present perfect continuous.

The positive is, has or has,

plus been, plus verb ING.

I have been working.

The negative, we just put in a not.

Has or have not been verb ING.

I have not been working.

And as a question, we have has or have,

plus subject, plus been, plus verb ING.

Have I been working?

It's important to note

that we cannot use

the present perfect continuous

with stative verbs.

Stative verbs don't refer to a physical action.

They express something that is permanent.

They express a state or a condition.

To like, to love, to believe,

to know, to understand.

You can say, I've known her for years.

You cannot say, I've been knowing her for years.

You can say, I've been here for a while.

You cannot say, I've been being here for a while.

Just so that's clear.

We can use the present perfect

and the present perfect continuous

to talk about actions,

unfinished actions that started in the past,

and are still true now.

We often use them with since and for.

I have lived in England for three years.

I have been studying English since 2003.

I've been studying English since 2017.

Now, sometimes, especially with the verbs study,

live, and work,

there is no real difference in meaning

between the two.

I've lived in England for three years,

I've been living in England for three years,

they mean the same thing.

I've studied English since 2017,

I've been studying English since 2017.

Again, they mean the same thing.

She has worked here for six months.

She has been working here for six months.

Once again, they mean the same thing.

So I hope that clears up some of your doubts.

Unfortunately, sometimes there is a difference

in meaning between these two tenses,

the present perfect,

and the present perfect continuous.

I'm going to discuss four situations

where there is a difference in meaning.

Number one, the present perfect continuous

can be used to emphasise

the amount or length of time that has passed.

Whereas the present perfect is generally neutral.

It might sound complicated,

but take a look at these two sentences.

She's been working for hours.

She has worked for hours.

She's been working shows more emphasis

about the hours that have passed.

It's a very subtle difference, but it's there.

The second situation,

the present perfect is commonly used

to talk about how much

or how many, but this is impossible

with the present perfect continuous.

Let me show you.

She has eaten three pieces of toast this morning.

That sentence is perfectly fine.

Let's try it with the present perfect continuous.

She has been eating three pieces

of toast this morning.

It doesn't work.

You can't use it.

He's drunk seven cups of coffee this morning.

I hope not. (laughing)

Poor guy.

You cannot say, he has been drinking seven cups

of coffee this morning.

It has to be the present perfect

when talking about how much or how many.

Let's take a look at the third situation.

The present perfect continuous often focuses

on the action itself.

Whereas the present perfect

focuses on the completion of the action.

Again, it's much easier to see this written out,

than to listen to an explanation.

So I'll give you some examples.

Take a look at these two sentences.

I've been watching the TV series you recommended.

I've watched the TV series you recommended.

With the first one, I've been watching,

I'm showing that I am still watching it.

I haven't finished the action yet.

Whereas with the second one, I've watched,

I'm telling you that I have finished watching it.

Sometimes it's not quite as obvious.

She's been seeing a therapist.

She's seen a therapist.

With she's been seeing,

it implies that her treatment is ongoing,

she's still seeing that therapist.

She's seen a therapist means she seen one

and now she may have stopped seeing one,

or her treatment has ended.

Another thing to note

is that with the present perfect,

we can use yet and already.

I know lots of you struggle

with for, since, yet, and already.

We've discussed for and since.

Now, yet and already.

I have seen the film already,

or I've already seen the film.

You can put already at the end,

or you can put it between have or has

and the participle.

I have already seen.

A common mistake that I hear

is I have seen already the film.

We would understand you,

but it doesn't quite sound right.

And yet, this goes at the end.

Have you seen the film yet?

No, I haven't seen it yet.

You can put yet between have has

and the participle.

I haven't yet seen it.

But it sounds quite old fashioned.

I haven't yet gone, I haven't yet seen it.

It sounds nice, it sounds very formal

and old fashioned.

Like you'd read in an old book.

In the question form,

it doesn't sound right at all.

Have you yet seen the film?

No, don't use that.

Sometimes we use the difference

between the present perfect

and the present perfect continuous

to talk about different kinds

of results in the present.

Again, it's much easier

to see this in an example,

so I will provide those.

I've done all of my chores

so I can come out tonight.

We use the present perfect

when the result comes

from the action being finished.

I can come out tonight

because I've finished my chores.

It's completed.

I've been doing my chores, so I'm exhausted.

We use the present perfect continuous

when the result comes

from doing the action itself.

I am exhausted

from carrying out all of my chores.

Another example, I've prepared a big dinner,

so you can come over.

I've been preparing a big dinner,

so all of my pans are dirty.

My pans are dirty as a result of the preparation,

but you can come over

because I've finished preparing the dinner.

In the first example,

with the present perfect, you can come over,

because I've finished preparing my dinner.

In the second example,

with the present perfect continuous,

all of my pans are dirty,

because of the preparation of my dinner,

the action of doing it.

Finally, we can use

the present perfect continuous

to talk about situations that aren't permanent.

Things that are not usual.

I've been sleeping badly.

I don't normally sleep badly,

but recently, I've been sleeping badly.

Normally I buy lunch at the canteen,

but I've been bringing lunch from home.

I've been getting up early to work out.

I don't usually do this,

but recently, I have been doing this.

Right, that is the grammar explanation.

Those are the differences

between the present perfect

and the present perfect continuous.

Now it's time to check your understanding.

I have created a quiz.

It's in the PDF I've created

that covers everything in this lesson.

I know it's been a complicated lesson,

so I hope having some notes will help you.

If you'd like to download it for free,

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I am still very excited by it.

You can click on words

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and hear me say them too.

Ee, no, er.

I will see you soon for another lesson.

Has or have, plus subject, plus B. (laughing)

I'm struggling here.

We cannot use the present perfect conditional.

Conditional, (chuckling) sorry.

We can use them with sinth.

Sinth?

Have I pronounced stative correctly?

Yeah, stative.

Look at me, doubting myself.

It's 'cause I'm scarred

with people calling me out on the internet.

(sighing) Okay.

(upbeat music)