Learn Present Prefect Tense to Talk about Experiences in English - Lesson Only

what is present perfect tense this is a verb  tense that is very very common in english  

present perfect is formed with  the present tense of the verb  

have and the past participle of a verb so  what does that mean what is past participle  

we're going to get into that for example i might  say i have changed or she has opened the book  

these are both examples of present perfect we have  subject i have and our past participle changed  

she has opened the book so let's take a  look at a few different ways we can use  

present perfect first we can use present  perfect for something that started in the past  

and continues in the present so started in  the past and continues today for example  

i have lived in korea for seven years this means  it started seven years ago and i still live  

in korea today i have lived in korea for seven  years we can also use the present perfect when we  

are talking about our experience up to the present  until now for example i've seen that film before  

and here we see we can take the words i have and  i've put them together that's called a contraction  

so our experience up to the  present i've seen that film before

we can use the present perfect for something  that happened in the past but is important in  

the present like i can't study because i have  lost my book right i i have done this thing  

it's important today but it happened  in the past but it's important now  

so those are the three main  ways we use present perfect  

if we want to make a present perfect sentence  negative we can add not this is how we make  

many statements in english negative for example  i have lost weight yeah good thing i have not  

lost weight oh maybe i am sad it's negative so  here please notice that we use not after have  

so we would not say i have lost not weight dang  we would say i have not lost weight all right  

so let's take a look at some basic present perfect  sentences so we have our uh structure here subject  

have or has passed participle and  dot dot the rest of the sentence  

for example number one i have eaten at  that restaurant it has happened before

she has traveled to italy so number  two we see right if we use he she or it  

have changes to has she has traveled to italy

and our last example for just basic  form we haven't seen that movie so again  

uh we can take have not and it becomes haven't we  could also do this she hasn't traveled to italy  

so these are the basic forms for present  perfect now that we have reviewed right what  

is present perfect let's use the present  perfect for talking about our experience  

up till the present for example i have  been studying english for 10 years

so what experiences can we talk about with present  perfect well first we have to think what is  

an experience and experience is something you have  done it can be uh traveling it can be watching a  

movie it can be reading a book anything you  do is an experience it's something we do  

so here we're looking at experiences  that have happened sometime in the past  

so what kind of experiences can we talk about  with present perfect we can talk about how long  

you have been doing something for example how  long you've been studying something how long  

you have been playing a certain instrument how  long you have been working somewhere how long  

you've been doing anything we also often  use present perfect to talk about our work  

experience so if you ever have an interview in  english you will definitely use present perfect  

right you will be talking about your work  experience i have worked here for five years

and really anything you have done in the past  where you have traveled where you have lived  

where you have gone to school who you have met  and so on so first let's take a look at this  

this kind of experience how  long you've been doing something  

we often use the words for and since to  talk about how long we have done things  

so let's take a look at what these  words are and how we can use them  

let's start with four we use the word for  to show how long or the length of time  

something has been happening so i'm going to  draw a line here 4 is the whole length of time  

here are some examples i have studied english  for 10 years that means for this whole time  

i have studied english for how long for 10 years

she has worked here for three months so again  for three months that shows us how long right  

the period of time the length of time and our  last example you have been watching this video  

for 10 minutes right so how long for about 10  minutes so here we see we can use words like years  

months minutes days weeks and so on any word  we use for length of time we can use with four  

so a little different than four is the word since  we use sense to show when something started so  

here's my line sense is when did it begin so let's  look at these examples how would i change these  

three sentences we're going to change them to  using since so i have studied english for 10 years  

that's how long i have studied english since  when did i begin 2011 or 2011. same sentence  

just a different way different words  for how long since when did you begin  

okay she has worked here for three months  well it's june now so she has worked here  

since march right when did she begin  what month did she begin since march  

and last one you have been watching this video for  10 minutes or you have been watching this video  

since when did you begin since four o'clock  so be careful it can be tricky to remember the  

difference four is how long since is when  did you begin so next we can use present  

perfect to talk about any experience we have  had in the past we often use words like before  

already and yet to talk about whether or not  we have done things at any time in the past  

so let's take a closer look so let's take a  look at these sentences i'm going to show you  

three sentences and tell me do we  know when these things happened

i have seen that movie before okay  do you know when i saw the movie

what about i have done my homework already  okay do you know when i did my homework

and last she has read that book okay  do we know when she read the book

no we do not we use present perfect to talk  about things that happen at non-specific times  

with words like before and already or even just a  normal sentence she has read that book so we use  

present perfect and we're not using specific times  if we use specific times we use just simple past  

tense for example i saw that movie yesterday so if  we know the exact time we just use past simple i  

did my homework at five o'clock okay we have  a time we know when that's just simple past  

she read that book last month okay again  we know when so we just use simple past  

the key here is words like before already and  yet are all used to talk about non-specific times  

so it just means well we're  going to talk about what it means  

so let's talk about how to use before already and  yet so first let's talk about before and already

these words are used to show that something  has happened at some unspecified or unstated  

unsaid point in the past right i'm not using  words like yesterday last month or at 5 00 p.m  

i am just talking about an unspecified  time it just has happened sometime before

so note about before before comes  at the end of sentences okay

for example i have played this game before means  i have played this game at some point in the past  

so i'm not telling you exactly when  maybe my friend and i are hanging out  

and uh she pulls out a video  game let's say it's um mario kart  

and she asks do you know how to play i might  say yeah i have played this game before  

so it just means i have had this experience  i have done this before sometime in the past  

right before is a non-specific  unspecified time just some time before

same with this sentence i  have been to atlanta before  

this just means i have been to  atlanta at some point in the past

already has the same or very similar meaning  but already can come at the end like before  

or after have her has so let's see  both i have seen that movie already  

this means i have seen that movie before  

often we might use already in the short past  so a new movie i would say i've seen it already  

so maybe uh let's say a new new movie comes out  my friend asks hey sarah do you want to go see  

the movie oh i've seen that movie already so  i don't want to watch it right i have had this  

experience before already so we see already can  come at the end but it can also come after half  

i have already listened to that song that  means i have listened to that song before  

so remember both before and already mean that  it has happened sometime before in the past  

okay all right next let's take a look at  yet this word key point is only used as a  

negative only only negative to show that something  has not happened but could happen in the future  

so let's take a look also yet only comes at  the end of sentences so before and yet end  

and end already can be end or after haver  has so it's a little more flexible but yet  

always at the end of a negative sentence for  example i haven't been to that theme park  

yet this means i have not been to that theme  park at any time in the past i have not done  

it but i might go soon yet is a word that shows  that i could do it or i might want to do it  

i haven't been there yet but i want to go  right the what it implies here i want to go

next example she hasn't come to class yet  this means so far since the class began  

she has not come to class but she  might come to class soon actually today  

one of my students told me i was calling names  taking attendance called a name oh professor  

she is not here yet but she will come later so  this is what yet implies so notice these sentences  

are negative because yet means has not happened  has not happened but maybe will in the future i  

want to share a tip with you guys about figuring  out the past participle part of present perfect  

so let's take a look at these sentences and see  if you can right this is like self-study time  

i can't see you guys unfortunately but try to  say to yourself what is uh the past participle  

so number one i have at this university for one  year what would the past participle be i have

been at this university for one year number  two we have at this job for five years we have  

worked at this job for five years number three  you have english since elementary school you have  

studied english he has to many countries he has  gone she has very well in this class she has  

done very well so we're going to take  a closer look at these past participles  

we can see some just have ed and others are  totally different so let me give you a little tip  

there's an easy way well a kind of easy  way that we can figure out what the past  

participle is going to be can we just  add edie or does the word need to change  

and we know this by whether  or not it's a regular verb  

or irregular verb okay regular means like normal  and irregular not normal so let's take a look  

so let's see how do we know if it's a regular verb  so we're going to think about the simple past to  

answer these questions okay so let's take a look  at the verb work so present tense today i work  

what would past tense be past tense yesterday i  worked regular verb in past tense we just add ed  

means it's a regular verb so in present perfect  it's the same i have worked visit okay today i  

visit yesterday i visited regular verb we just add  eed so past participle is the same i have visited

hike today i hike the mountain  yesterday i hiked the mountain regular  

verb just uh add d in this case edie ending hiked  so past participle same i have hiked perform  

past tense i uh today i perform yesterday i  performed so past participle same i have performed  

try today i try yesterday i tried past participle  i have tried so anytime we have a regular verb  

where in the simple past we just add ed then  past participle is the same now what about  

irregular verbs we're gonna go through these a  little quickly okay first irregular not normal  

we cannot just add ed to these verbs be so  let's say the sentence is today i am yesterday i  

was irregular cannot just add ed so  our past participle here i have been  

can't just add ed doesn't stay the same  go today i go to school yesterday i  

went to school irregular right can't just  add ed so our past participle i have gone  

today i do yesterday i did irregular i  have done today i see a movie yesterday i  

saw a movie irregular i have seen today i win the  game yesterday i won the game irregular and in  

this case it's also one i have one so this part  is the easy part when it comes to remembering  

uh the irregular past participles  i have been i have gone i have done  

there's no easy way right they're all different  so this really just comes from listening  

reading and becoming familiar but you  can at least know if it's a regular verb  

just add ed in past tense then  your past participle is the same  

all right guys last thing last thing  last thing let's put it together  

so i'm gonna throw some sentences up here  and i want you guys to find the mistake

okay question one i have worked here for 2018.

there is one mistake what is the mistake  in this sentence um would i say 4 2018

dang i would say since right  because sense is the starting point  

four means how long so i could say i have worked  here for three years or i have worked here since  

2018. okay number two she has watched  this movie yet this one's a little tricky

okay did you did you guys find it so here we're  using the word yet and remember we can only use  

yet in a negative sentence so we would have  to say she has not watched this movie yet  

yet is always always always always with not i have  not done it yet but i want to do it in the future  

okay here we go you have  before watched this live stream

what's the mistake here what is wrong with this  sentence hmm well before is a word that we cannot  

put after have we need to move before to the end  over here you have watched this live stream before

before always comes at the end of a sentence if  it was the word already then we could say you have  

already watched this live stream uh but  here we're using before so comes at the end  

okay number four we have went to this  school since 2020. okay well this is  

correct since 2020 right starting point check  that's good what's wrong with this sentence

here we have a problem with the past  participle the past participle of go is  

gone we have gone to this school since 2020  and last one he have already finished his test  

okay so what's the problem here  already nope that's in the right place  

already we can use after have it's the only  one we can do with that we learned today  

here the problem is have he has already finished  his test all right guys uh so now that we're all  

done i'm looking forward to seeing your comments  and tell me about your experiences in the comments