Present Perfect | How to Use it Correctly

Hey,

it's Annemarie with Speak Confident English and today you're going to learn how

to use the present perfect in English and get it right every single time.

You probably already know that native speakers use the present perfect form a

lot, so it's important to get it right,

especially if you want to communicate correctly and clearly in English. In fact,

when you first arrive in an English speaking country,

you'll probably hear people ask you how long have you been here?

So how would you answer that question if you're not sure,

today's lesson is going to help you know without any doubt when and how to use

the present perfect in English.

[inaudible]

You're going to learn all the different situations when you need to use the

present perfect in English.

I'm also going to share with you words that you definitely should use and be

sure to watch until the end because I'll also share with you some words that you

definitely should not use. So first,

what is the present perfect and why is it so hard? Well,

it's challenging because many languages don't have the present perfect form,

but in English it is essential.

This verb form allows us to connect actions from the past to the present moment.

Now let's take a little step back from that.

If I say I lived there for two years,

I lived there for two years.

What grammar tense am I using? Absolutely.

It's the past simple. I lived there for two years.

It's in the past. It's over, it's finished.

There is no connection to now,

but if I say, I am living here now,

what verb tense am I using and what time am I talking about?

Absolutely.

I'm talking about now at this present moment and I'm using the continuous form

to help me do that. I am living.

That verb let's me show the connection to now,

but what if I want to show that something started in the past but it's not

finished yet? It's still true.

Now I need some way to express that in English and that's what the present

perfect allows us to do. For example,

I have lived here for three years.

When I use have lived,

it tells you that it started three years ago and it's still true today,

it allows me to make a connection between the past and the present.

Another example, I've loved chocolate since I was a kid.

I've or I have,

I've loved chocolate since I was a kid again,

that use of have loved let's me connect the past to this moment.

I started to love chocolate when I was a kid and it has continued through my

whole life until this present moment. Now in those two examples,

I've just used some keywords for the present perfect.

I used for and since for three years and since I was a kid.

When we use those words,

it's a clue that we need to use the present perfect form,

but now let's talk about another super common situation where we use the present

perfect in every day conversation for answering questions like,

how's your day been going?

We use the present perfect when a period of time is not finished.

If somebody asks, how's your day been going?

Today isn't finished. It's still today,

so we use the present perfect. When we answer that question, for example,

we might say, Oh, I've been so busy today,

I have been so busy today, and again,

we're using that have been because today isn't finished.

It's the same. If someone asks you, how's your week been going?

Or how's your month been? For example, if somebody asks you,

how's your week been going? You might say something like, Oh,

I've been so grumpy all week. I'm not sleeping well,

so how would you answer that question? How's your week been going?

You can practice and share your answer with me in the comment section just below

this video.

But now let's move on to another situation where we use the present perfect.

And again,

this is for everyday conversations when something has just happened like,

Ooh, ouch, I've just cut my finger. Or Oh,

someone has just knocked at my door.

Or if you're at the office looking for one of your coworkers,

you might ask someone where, Susan, I can't find her, and they might answer,

oh, she is just gone home.

Do you notice a pattern in all of those sentences that I used,

I've just cut my finger.

Someone has just knocked at my door and she's just gone home.

Hopefully you notice that word just,

we often use the word just with the present perfect.

Here are a few more examples. Oh my gosh,

I've just passed my exam. She's just broken up with her boyfriend.

They've just bought a house.

And now before we talk about how to form the present perfect correctly,

we've got one more situation that we need to talk about.

And this one is particularly important if you ever do a job interview in English

talking about your life or career experience.

Do you remember when we were talking about answering the question,

how's your day been or how's your week been?

It's a period of time that isn't finished. Well,

your life isn't finished either.

So we're talking about the experience in your life from the day that you were

born until this moment. For example, in my life experience,

I've traveled to over 40 countries.

If we're talking about career experience,

I might say he's been with the company for seven years.

He has been with the company for seven years or he's been an engineer for 20

years.

Now that you know all the situations when we need to use the present perfect.

Let's talk about how to use it correctly. There are two things that you need.

You need the verb have or has so I have you have he she it has,

we have and they have and then you need the past participle.

Now that's super technical,

jargony language for that third form of the verb.

If you think back to when you first started learning English,

do you remember memorizing all those verbs like eat,

ate, eaten, drink, drank drunk. Write,

wrote, written.

That third form is the past participle and that's what you need to use.

Now, thankfully when we have a regular verb in English,

you can just use the -ed ending for example, want, wanted,

wanted, work, worked, worked. She has worked.

If you have those two things, the have or has and that third form,

you've got everything you need for the present perfect.

Now if you want many more examples of how to correctly form the present perfect.

I've got those available for you in the online lesson and you can find a link to

that just below this video,

but now I want to focus on words that you definitely should use in the present

perfect.

Like for and since and words you definitely should not use.

Now you've learned that with the present perfect. We often use for,

since and just,

and there are a few more words that can help you know when to use it.

If you hear or want to use words like always, never or ever,

those are signs that the present perfect might be the right choice.

For example,

have you ever been to Japan or have you ever eaten Vietnamese food?

Native English speakers, love asking, have you ever questions.

They're great for starting conversations and getting to know people and when you

answer, you might say something like,

I've been to three times or no, I've never eaten Vietnamese food.

If we talk about something that has always been true, again,

we can use the present perfect. For example, she's always loved jazz.

Now there's one last thing you need to know so that you always use the present

perfect correctly and that is when not to use it.

If you want to use words like, ago,

last year or last week,

in 2018 or in 1999.

Those are key words that you definitely should not use the present perfect.

Do you know what you should use instead last year,

last month, last week ago with those words,

we definitely want to use the simple past because we're talking about something

that is finished. It's over.

Last month I went to Italy. I finished that project yesterday.

You'll notice in all of those examples I'm using the simple past and those words

that we've talked about are key words for the simple past,

not for the present perfect.

Now it's time for you to put all of this into practice and I've got a challenge

question for you in the comments below.

I want you to tell me what are some of the most amazing things you've ever done

in your life? Use the present perfect to tell me all about them.

If you found this lesson useful to you,

be sure to subscribe to this channel so you never miss a future Confident

English lesson. Thank you so much.