Present Perfect tense

 

We use the present perfect tense to talk about a past action or event that has an effect on or connection with the present. It doesn’t show the exact time in the past, but the present result is important.

• I have eaten lunch.
• She has learned to speak English.
• We have watched the movie.

 

We use the present perfect tense with an unfinished time expression. 

• Have you seen him today?
• Nobody has noticed so far.
• I haven’t eaten since breakfast.
• Have you ever been to America?
• Have you talked to John yet?
• I haven’t smoked this week.
• I have never heard this in my life.

 

In the present perfect, “have” or “has” is a helping verb, and the main verb is in past participle form.

• You have been helpful so far.
• She has eaten breakfast.
• We have seen him today.

Form: subject + have/has + main verb [past participle form]

Subject	have/has [helping verb]	main verb
I	have	played.
You	have	played.
He/She/It	has	played.
We	have	played.
You	have	played.
They	have	played.

 

We can use the verb “have” as a main verb in past participle form along with helping verb “have/has”.

• I have had a lot to do this week.
• She has had an easy life.
• Our car has had a flat tire today.
• We have had a lot of rain this year.

 

Contractions in the present perfect tenses

Affirmative	Negative (recommended)	Negative (also correct)
I‘ve played	I haven’t played.	I‘ve not played.
You‘ve played	You haven’t played.	You‘ve not played.
He‘s played	He hasn’t played.	He‘s not played.
She‘s played	She hasn’t played.	She‘s not played.
It‘s played	It hasn’t played.	It‘s not played.
We‘ve played	We haven’t played.	We‘ve not played.
You‘ve played.	You haven’t played.	You‘ve not played.
They‘ve played	They haven’t played.	They‘ve not played.

 

Question form: have/has + subject + main verb [past participle form] +?

• Have you parked?
• Has she cooked?
• Have they eaten?

We can use the words (who, what, when, where, why, how) before has or have in interrogative sentences.

• Where have you parked?
• How has she cooked?
• What have they eaten?

 

A regular verb has usual ending in its past and past participle forms.

Present tense	Simple past	Past participle
ask	asked	asked
earn	earned	earned
allow	allowed	allowed
collect	collected	collected
agree	agreed	agreed
move	moved	moved
rub	rubbed	rubbed
study	studied	studied

 

Verbs that end in “e”, we just add “d” to make them past or past participle.

• arrive: arrived, arrived
• bake: baked, baked
• change: changed, changed
• close: closed, closed

 

For verbs that end in “consonant + vowel + consonant”; we double the last consonant and add “ed”.

• control: controlled, controlled.
• grab: grabbed, grabbed.
• rub: rubbed, rubbed.
• drag: dragged, dragged.

Some verbs that end in “y” and have a consonant before them, we take out the “y” and add “ied” to make them past or past participle.

• study: studied, studied.
• worry: worried, worried.
• try: tried, tried.

 

Irregular verbs do not follow the -d, ed, or -ied suffix pattern.

Present tense	Simple past	Past participle
go	went	gone
send	sent	sent
think	thought	thought
drive	drove	driven
ring	rang	rung
grow	grew	grown
tell	told	told

 

To avoid making mistakes with irregular verbs, we should learn them by heart.

Simple Present (v1)	Simple Past (v2)	Past Participle (v3)
arise	arose	arisen
awake	awoke or awaked	awaked or awoken
am, is, are	was, were	been
bear	bore	borne or born
beat	beat	beaten
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
bend	bent	bent
bet	bet	bet
bid	bid	bid
bid	bade	bidden
bind	bound	bound
bite	bit	bitten or bit
bleed	bled	bled
blow	blew	blown
breed	bred	bred
break	broke	broken
breed	bred	bred
bring	brought	brought
broadcast	broadcast	broadcast
build	built	built
burn	burnt/burned	burnt/burned
burst	burst	burst
buy	bought	bought
can	could	been able
cast	cast	cast
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
cling	clung	clung
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
creep	crept	crept
cut	cut	cut
deal	dealt	dealt
dig	dug	dug
dive	dived or dove	dived
do	did	done
draw	drew	drawn
dream	dreamed or dreamt	dreamed or dreamt
drink	drank	drunk
drive	drove	driven
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feed	fed	fed
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
flee	fled	fled
fling	flung	flung
fly	flew	flown
forbid	forbade or forbad	forbidden
forget	forgot	forgotten or forgot
forgive	forgave	forgiven
forsake	forsook	forsaken
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	got or gotten
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grind	ground	ground
grow	grew	grown
hang	hung	hung
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
keep	kept	kept
kneel	knelt	knelt
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
lean	leant/leaned	leant/leaned
leap	leaped or leapt	leaped or leapt
learn	learnt/learned	learnt/learned
leave	left	left
lend	lent	lent
let	let	let
lie	lay	lain
light	lighted or lit	lighted or lit
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
mean	meant	meant
meet	met	met
overtake	overtook	overtaken
pay	paid	paid
put	put	put
prove	proved	proved or proven
quit	quit	quit
read	read	read
rid	rid	rid
ride	rode	ridden
ring	rang	rung
rise	rose	risen
run	ran	run
say	said	said
see	saw	seen
seek	sought	sought
sell	sold	sold
send	sent	sent
set	set	set
shake	shook	shaken
shed	shed	shed
shine	shone	shone
shoot	shot	shot
show	showed	shown or showed
shrink	shrank	shrunk
shut	shut	shut
sing	sang	sung
sink	sank or sunk	sunk
sit	sat	sat
slay	slew	slain
sleep	slept	slept
sling	slung	slung
smell	smelt	smelt
sneak	sneaked or snuck	sneaked or snuck
speak	spoke	spoken
spell	spelt/spelled	spelt/spelled
spend	spent	spent
spill	spilt/spilled	spilt/spilled
spin	spun	spun
spit	spat	spat
spread	spread	spread
spring	sprang or sprung	sprung
stand	stood	stood
steal	stole	stolen
stick	stuck	stuck
sting	stung	stung
stink	stank or stunk	stunk
stride	strode	stridden
strike	struck	struck
strive	strove	striven
swear	swore	sworn
sweep	swept	swept
swim	swam	swum
swing	swung	swung
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
throw	threw	thrown
understand	understood	understood
wake	woke or waked	waked or woken
wear	wore	worn
weave	wove or weaved	woven or wove
weep	wept	wept
win	won	won
wind	wound	wound
wring	wrung	wrung
write	wrote	written

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