21 Common Present Perfect Questions in English

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Uh, hey.

How long have you been there?

Okay, well, let's start the lesson.

Forget what you saw, but don't forget this.

Hey, everyone.

I'm Alex.

Thanks for clicking, and welcome to this lesson on "Common Present Perfect Questions".

So, in this lesson you're basically going to learn some fixed questions that all use

the present perfect.

You can use these, obviously, in everyday conversations, and hopefully after this lesson

it will be easier for you to recognize these questions in other contexts, like in media

or on the street, or anywhere where you hear English and speak English.

So I hope after this lesson you'll feel a lot more comfortable, and you will feel like

you have, you know, a lot more vocabulary, a lot more phrases and common questions that

you can use to make you sound more natural as an English speaker.

Okay. Ready, Totoro?

Yeah, okay.

So first...

Well, before anything, why don't we talk about what the present perfect is for, right?

So, as some of you or most of you hopefully know, the present perfect is usually used

for life experience.

So, for example: "I have been to China."

This means that in my life experience any time before now-time is not important-

I have been to China in my life.

You can also use it to talk about something that started in the past, and has continued

to the present.

So, for example: "I have lived in Toronto since 2010."

Example.

And one more, you can also use the present perfect to talk about something that recently happened.

Okay? And you can still see the effects of it.

So, for example, if you say, I don't know:

-"Where's John?" -"He has gone to the store."

Okay? So very recently something happened.

Okay, but this isn't totally a grammar lesson.

It's more of a lesson on memorizing some fixed questions, so let's go over them.

Starting with "Yes/No", and first those in your life questions, so: "Have you ever...?"

Now, after "Have you ever", always use a past participle verb, so: "Have you ever been to a place?"

So: "Have you ever been to China?" for example.

"Have you ever seen something?",

"Hey. Have you ever seen the movie Titanic?",

"Have you ever seen the TV series, I don't know, let's say Stranger Things on Netflix?",

"Have you ever eaten snails?", "Have you ever eaten snake?",

"Have you ever received a parking ticket, a speeding ticket?"

Okay?

So you can ask: "Have you ever" questions to, you know, ask about a person's life experience

any time before now.

You don't care about the time as long as it happened before the present moment.

Okay, some other common in your life questions:

"Hey. Have you been there before?"

So, this can be about any place.

This can be a restaurant, this can be a city, this can be a dance club, this can be a karaoke bar.

And you want an opinion from a person maybe to tell you about the quality of something,

or to tell you about their experience with that place.

So: "Have you ever been there before?", "Have you ever been to _______ before?"

Next: "Hmm. Have we met before?"

This is a common situation, unfortunately, for many people.

If you can't remember people's faces or you can't remember people's names, and someone

comes up to you, in this case let's say they come up to me and say:

"Oh, hey, Alex." I'm like: -"Hey. Have we met before?

I'm sorry.

I don't remember your name or I don't remember your face."

-"Yeah. Remember? It was at Jack's birthday party."

And I say: "There were one hundred people at Jack's birthday party.

I'm sorry, I don't remember."

So: "Have we met before?"

Okay?

Next, you can use these questions to talk about something or someone that you have seen recently.

So you can ask, for example: "Hey. Have you seen...?"

For example: "Have you seen my phone?" if someone loses their phone, very common thing that happens.

"Have you seen my phone? I left it in the bathroom. Have you seen it?",

"Have you seen Jim?"

Okay?

You can also ask the question: "Has anyone seen..."

If there are many people: "Has anyone seen Jim?", "Has anyone seen my lunch?"

Like if you brought your lunch to work and you don't know where it is:

"Has anyone seen my lunch?", "Has anyone seen my keys?"

if you go to a friend's house or a party and

you don't know where they are.

And usually you're referring to:

"Hey, has anyone seen or have you seen this thing or this person today, or this morning?"

So going back to the present perfect, if it's still the morning you can use the present perfect.

You know: "Has anyone seen Jim this morning?"

The morning is not finished.

It started in the past, it's still the morning now, it's like 8AM, so you can say:

"Has anyone seen Jim this morning?

He's supposed to be here."

Okay?

Next, you can use the present perfect to make recommendations.

What?

Let's do this.

I bet you didn't know that.

So: "Hmm, have you thought about...?" or:

"Hmm, have you considered...?"

So, you're giving recommendations or advice to someone in a kind of gentle way if they

ask you for advice.

So: "Okay, well, you don't want to go to, like, you know, your aunt's birthday party.

Have you thought about not going?

What would be the consequences?" Right?

"Have you considered not going?"

Okay. -"I don't want to get into trouble.

I really, really just want to tell, you know, my girlfriend, or my aunt, or my mom, you

know, something that's not true so I can escape a situation."

-"Have you considered telling the truth?

Have you thought about telling the truth?"

So this is like sarcastic advice in this situation.

"I don't know. Have you thought about telling the truth?"

And: -"Uh, I hate my job."

-"Have you considered looking for a new job?

Have you thought about looking for a new job?"

So you're offering options-right?-to the person that is asking you for advice.

Next, hey, you can ask, like, a conditional question with the present perfect?

No way.

So: "Have you ever wondered...?"

Now, this is very common.

"Have you ever wondered...?" or: "Have you ever thought about...?"

and then you can ask your, you know, secondary question.

"Have you ever thun-..."

Have you ever thund about?

Thought about.

"...what would happen if", and then, for example:

"Have you ever thought about what would happen if we discovered life on other planets?",

"Have you ever thought about what would happen if hamburgers ate people?"

You know, something like that.

Like a ridiculous situation, which conditionals...

You can ask ridiculous questions with conditionals.

Okay. Next, if you have studied the present perfect before you know some of the most common words

with present perfect are words like: "recently", "yet", and "already".

So we talked about things that have recently happened, recently finished.

So, here: "Hey. Have you talked to _______ recently?"

For example, your mom: "Have you talked to your mom lately?",

"Have you talked to your mom recently?", "Have you talked to your dad?",

"Have you talked to...?" whoever, your cousin, your best friend.

You can also say: "Hey. Have you _______ yet?"

So: "Have you finished watching Stranger Things yet?"

The Netflix series, for example.

So: "Have you", and don't forget with present perfect you're always using the past participle verb,

so: "Have you finished something yet?", "Have you done something yet?",

"Have you started something yet?"

Okay?

Before now, have you already or have you started it yet?

And last question: "Hey. Have you already _______?",

"Have you already started your project?",

"Have you already finished your homework?", "Wow. You finished your homework?

Wait.

Have you already finished your homework?"

Okay?

So, very, very common yes/no questions.

Before we move on to the "Wh", why don't you guys help me and, you know, you've been watching

me for a long time, you've only been using your ears - let's use your mouth.

Let's, you know, listen and repeat, and practice our pronunciation, and our fluency, and our

intonation with these questions.

So, I'm just going to pick one.

Let's see, repeat after me:

"Have you ever eaten snake?"

Okay.

"Have you been there before?",

"I'm sorry. Have we met before?",

"Have you seen my keys?",

"Has anyone seen my phone?"

Okay, good.

"Have you thought about not going?",

"Have you considered looking for a new job?"

All right.

This one's just too long, I can't ask you guys to repeat this.

Oh, yes I can because it's my video and you're watching.

"Have you ever wondered what would happen if we discovered life on other planets?"

Yeah. Okay.

And: "Have you talked to your mom recently?",

"Have you finished the dishes yet?",

"Have you already folded the laundry?"

All right, good.

So let's continue to some "Wh" questions, very common:

"Where have you been?" So if someone comes home to your house, maybe your roommate,

maybe you're a parent and your

teenaged son, teenaged daughter comes home very late and you're waiting for them:

"Where have you been?"

Okay?

So you're wondering where they have been from the past until now, until this moment.

"Where have you been?" Okay?

"How have you been?"

So this is another way to say: "How are you?"

but usually you ask this if you haven't seen someone for, you know, a long time and you

say: "Wow. I haven't seen you in five months. How have you been in that time?"

Okay?

So you're asking: "How are you?"

but it's for a person you haven't seen in a long time.

-"Hey. How have you been?"

-"I've been good.", "I've been busy.",

"I've been very, very, I don't know, let's say I've been down a little bit."

So I've been sad, maybe.

Another one: "What have you done?"

Okay?

So, usually, this is when you are shocked by something you have seen, maybe it's a co-worker

or let's say someone is doing something on your computer.

Right?

And then you come back to your computer and everything looks different.

So maybe somebody added some files on to your desktop, or maybe it's on a weird website

and you look at, like, your friend, or your roommate, or your brother, or your sister,

or your mom, or your dad and you say:

"What have you done? This isn't the computer that I left you with." Okay?

Next: "When has that ever happened?" or: "When has that ever been true?"

Okay?

So, if your friend tells you something that is, you know, maybe you think it's unbelievable

or something that doesn't happen very frequently, or something that you just think cannot be,

so you can say: "When has that ever happened?

When has that ever been true?"

Okay?

So let's continue with: "How long" so you're asking about the duration of something:

"How long have you been here?", "Have long have you been there?"

Another common question that's similar to this is, you know, if you are doing something

embarrassing like talking to your t-shirt and singing a song from a 1980s Japanese anime

while people all over the internet watch you, and you look up and:

"Oh, how long have you been standing there?"

Now, maybe you're not standing, but this is a common question people ask, too.

"How long have you been standing there?"

Now, I add that question and I don't put it here because:

"How long have you been standing there?"

is actually a present perfect continuous question, but the idea is the same.

All right?

So: "How long have you been there?" Okay?

And finally: "Why has no one ever mentioned this?" Okay?

"Why has no one ever told me this before?"

So if you get, you know, a new policy at your job or you get new information on a project,

you know, at school, and you're like: "This information would have been useful three weeks ago.

Why has no one ever mentioned this?

Why has no one ever told me?"

Okay?

All right.

So, finally, let's repeat these questions like we did these...

Like we did these ones.

Yes.

So repeat after me, guys.

"Where have you been?",

"How have you been?"

That intonation is weird.

Let's do that one again.

Normally when you ask: "How have you been?"

it's: "How have you been?"

Good.

"What have you done?",

"When has that ever happened?",

"When has that ever been true?",

"How long have you been here?",

"How long have you been there?",

"Why has no one ever mentioned this?"

Wonderful.

Okay, everyone.

So after going over everything I hope you feel a lot more comfortable, and I hope you

enjoyed the video.

I hope that you feel like you have now some concrete, solid things you can use in your

English conversations and also some concrete, solid things you can listen for when you are

listening to English conversations in whatever context you can hear conversations in.

Now, if you want to test your understanding of, you know, the structure of these questions,

you can check out the quiz on www.engvid.com.

And, you know, if you like what you see here, you can also, you know, donate to the website

if you want us to continue doing this for a long, long time.

We do this for free, put the videos up on YouTube and everything like that,

so any financial thing we receive is greatly appreciated and we thank you for it.

So, once more, thanks for clicking.

I'm Alex.

Check me out on Facebook, Twitter, check me out on YouTube which you are already doing

or maybe on engVid, and subscribe to the channel.

Til next time, I know I already said it but I'm going to say it again, thanks for clicking.

Until next time...

Til next time.

I keep saying: "Til next time".

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