Learn Present Perfect Tense | English Grammar Course

Hi, everyone.

I'm Esther.

In this video, I'm going to introduce the present perfect tense.

This tense can be used to talk about an action that happened in the past,

but when it happened is not very important or it’s unknown.

It can also be used to talk about an action that started in the past and continues in the present.

We really want to emphasize how long that action has been happening.

And finally, we use this tense to talk about a recent action.

There's a lot to learn and a lot of important information, so keep watching.

Let's talk about one usage of the present perfect tense.

This tense can be used to talk about an action that happened in the past.

But when it happened is not important or not known.

However, this action is important to the conversation right now.

Let's take a look at some examples.

The first one says, ‘I have been to Canada.’

What we do here is we start with the subject, ‘I’.

For ‘I’, ‘you’, ‘we’, and ‘they’, we follow with ‘have’.

After that we use the past participle of the verb.

In this case, the verb is ‘be’.

And so the past participle is ‘been’.

‘I have been to Canada.’

The next sentence says, ‘My cousins have seen the movie.’

My cousins is a ‘they’.

And so again, we follow with ‘have’.

And the past participle of see is ‘seen’.

‘They have seen the movie.’

Or ‘My cousins have seen the movie.’

The next example says, ‘Chad has gone home.’

Chad is a ‘he’.

For ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘it’, we follow with ‘has’.

Then, the past participle ‘gone’ is for the verb ‘go’.

‘Chad has gone home.’

And finally, ‘My phone has been fixed.’

My phone is an ‘it’.

Therefore, I use ‘has’.

And then I need the past participle of ‘be’ – ‘been’.

‘My phone has been fixed.’

Let's move on to the next usage.

The present perfect tense is also used to describe an action that started in the past

and continues in the present.

‘for’ and since’ are common expressions used with the present perfect tense.

Let's take a look at these examples.

‘I have worked there since 2002.’

You'll notice we start with the subject.

If it's ‘I’, ‘you’ or ‘we’, we have ‘have’.

Then the past participle of the verb.

In this case - ‘worked’.

What you'll notice here is that we also have ‘since 2002’.

This shows when the action started, so with the expression ‘since’, you need to use

a specific point in time.

The next example does the same thing.

‘You have had a car since last year.’

Again, we use ‘since’, so we have a specific point in time - ‘last year’.

Take a look at the next example.

‘Anna has liked him for weeks.’

In this case the subject is ‘Anna’.

Which is a ‘she’, and so we use ‘has’.

Then the past participle ‘liked’.

However, at the end of the sentence, we see ‘for weeks’.

Not ‘since weeks’.

When we use ‘for’, we talk about the duration.

We explain how long this action has been true.

And finally, ‘We have eaten lunch here for 3 months.’

Again, the sentence ends with ‘for 3 months’.

So we show the duration.

Let's move on to the next usage.

In addition, the present perfect tense can be used to describe an action that recently stopped.

Let’s take a look at some examples.

‘I have just been to the doctor,’

So just like for all the other usages, we start with the subject,

‘have’ or ‘has’, and the past participle.

But you'll notice here, I used the word ‘just’ between ‘have’ and the verb.

‘I have just been to the doctor.’

This shows that it happened very recently.

The next example says, ‘James has just seen his new baby.’

Again, just goes in between ‘have’ or ‘has’ and the verb.

Take a look at the next example.

It says, ‘She has already been to China.’

‘already’ is another word you can use to show that this action recently happened.

However, ‘already’ can also be moved to the end of the sentence.

So it's perfectly fine to say, ‘She has been to China already.’

And in the last example, ‘We have recently visited Tom.’

Again, you can put this word between ‘have’ or ‘has’ and the verb.

Or you can also put it at the end of the sentence.

‘We have visited Tom recently.’

Let's move on.

Let's take a look at the negative form of the present perfect tense.

Here are some examples.

The first one says, ‘I have not been to Europe.’

What you'll notice in the first sentence is that we simply put a 'not' between ‘have’ and ‘been’.

‘I have not been to Europe.’

You can also use a contraction and say ‘I haven't been to Europe.’

The next sentence says, ‘It has not rained for 3 months.’

Again, we put the ‘not’ between the ‘has’ and the verb.

‘It has not rained for 3 months.’

Here we have a time expression to show the duration.

The next example says, ‘Teddy hasn't driven for 2 years.’

We used the contraction here for ‘has’ and ‘not’ – ‘hasn't’.

And then we use the time expression ‘for 2 years’ at the end of the sentence.

And finally, the last sentence says, ‘My sons haven't played soccer since 2010.’

We see another contraction here for ‘have not’ – ‘haven't’.

‘My sons haven't played soccer since 2010.’

This time expression uses ‘since’.

And so we mention a specific point and time.

Let's move on.

Now let's take a look at the ‘have’ or ‘has’ question form of the present perfect tense.

Take a look at the board.

The first sentence says, ‘Mike has eaten lunch.’

That is a statement.

Now to turn it into a question, it's quite easy.

All you have to do is put ‘has’ at the beginning.

Then you follow with the subject and then the past participle.

You'll notice that the placement of the past participle doesn't change.

We've simply changed the order of the first 2 words.

‘Has Mike eaten lunch?’

‘Has Mike eaten lunch?’

And you can answer by saying ‘Yes, he has.’ or ‘No, he hasn't.’

The next sentence says, ‘They have watched the video.’

This is a statement.

If we want to turn it into a question, again, we change the order of the first two words.

‘Have they…?’

And the past participle verb stays in the same place.

‘Have they watched the video?’

‘Have they watched the video?’

You can answer this question by saying, ‘Yes, they have.’

or ‘No, they haven't.’

Good job, guys.

Let's move on.

Now, I'll briefly introduce how to ask WH questions in the present perfect tense.

Take a look at the board.

I have ‘where’, ‘what’, ‘who’, and ‘how’.

These go at the beginning of the question.

Let's take a look at the first example.

‘Where has Tim been?’

You'll notice we followed the WH word with ‘has’ or ‘have’.

In this case, I used ‘has’ because the subject is ‘Tim’, and Tim is a ‘he’.

And then we followed that with the past participle of the verb.

‘Where has Tim been?’

And I can answer by saying, ‘Tim has been home.’

or ‘Tim has been on vacation.’

Something like that.

The next question says, what countries have you visited?

I can answer by saying, ‘I have visited China.’

or ‘I have visited Mexico.’

You can also use the contraction ‘I’ve’.

‘I've visited China.’

The next question says, ‘Who has she talked to?’

You can answer by saying, ‘She has talked to her mom.’ or ‘She has talked to her teacher.’

The next question says, ‘How long have you been married?’

‘I've been married for 3 years.’

That's one answer that you can give.

Great job, everybody.

Let's move on.

Excellent job, everyone.

You just learned about the present perfect tense.

There was a lot to learn, but you did a wonderful job.

Keep studying English.

I know that it’s hard, but you’ll get better with time, effort, and practice.

I’ll see you in the next video.