The Present Perfect Tense

Zion Languages
 Present Perfect Tense

We use the present perfect tense to describe an

action or state that started at an unknown or
unspecified time in the past AND has a connection
to the present.

Your grades have become a problem.

Have you seen Anne?

I have just cleaned the floor, please take off your

shoes.

I have been sick all day.

Have you done your homework?

 Present Perfect Tense

We use the present perfect tense to describe

past actions or conditions that continue in the
present. It answers “how long ago” (since) or
“for how long” (for) something happened.

I have lived in New York for 3 years.

We have been married since 2021.

They’ve waited for the bus for 15 minutes.

He hasn’t seen her since high school.

She hasn’t eaten breakfast for 5 months.

 Present Perfect Tense

We use the present perfect tense to ask if

someone has ever had past experiences.

Have you ever been in a band?

I have gone skydiving.

He has never dated anyone.

She still hasn’t ever travelled by train before.

Have the children ever done anything like

this before?
 Present Perfect Tense

To create the present perfect tense, we start

with the pronoun with the verb ‘have’
conjugated then for normal verbs we have the
infinitive plus -ed.

I’ve started the car.

She’s worked in a bank before.

It’s rained for 3 days now.

We’ve already talked about this.

You’ve already watched that movie many

times before.
 Present Perfect Tense

To create the present perfect negative tense,

we start with the pronoun with the verb ‘have’
conjugated add ‘not’, then for normal verbs we
have the infinitive plus -ed.

I haven’t started the car.

She hasn’t worked in a bank before.

It hasn’t rained for 3 days now.

We haven’t already talked about this.

You haven’t seen that movie before.

 Present Perfect Tense

POSITIVE: NEGATIVE:

I have = I’ve I have not = I haven’t

You have = you’ve You have not = you haven’t

He has = he’s He has not = he hasn’t

She has = she’s She has not = she hasn’t

We have = we’ve We have not = we haven’t

They have = they’ve They have not = they haven’t

 Present Perfect Tense

To create the present perfect in the yes/no question

form we switch the place of the auxiliary verb and the
pronoun, then we still have the infinitive verb with -ed.

Have I brushed my teeth yet today?

Have you spoken to your teacher?

Has he seen the surprise?

Has she been at school?

Have we brought enough food for the day?

 Present Perfect Tense

To create the present perfect in the wh- question

form we first put the question word, switch the
place of the auxiliary verb and then the pronoun,
then we still have the infinitive verb with -ed.

What Have I forgotten?

When have you spoken to your father?

Where has he gone?

Why has she been at school?

Who have they met?

 Present Perfect Tense

There are some spelling changes for the verbs in the perfect tense.

If the verb ends with a consonant and a -y, we change the -y to an -i and add -ed:
try - tried, study - studied, cry - cried, copy - copied

If the verb ends in a -e we just add a -d, since the -e is already there, we do not
double it: close - closed, measure - measured

If the verb ends in CVC (unless the final letter is a w, x, or y) we double the final
consonant, if the last syllable is stressed: stop - stopped, plan - planned
 Vocabulary

be — been, become — become, begin — begun, break — broken, bring —

brought, buy — bought, catch — caught, choose — chosen, come — come,
cost — cost, cut — cut, do — done, draw — drawn, drink — drunk, drive —
driven, eat — eaten, fall — fallen, feel — felt, fight — fought, find — found,
fly — flown, forget — forgotten, get — gotten, give — given, go — gone,
grow — grown, hang — hung, have — had, hear — heard, hide — hidden,
hit — hit, hold — held, hurt — hurt, keep — kept, know — known, leave —
left, lend — lent, let — let
 Vocabulary

light — lit, lose — lost, make — made, mean — meant, meet — met, pay —
paid, put — put, read — read, ride — ridden, ring — rung, rise — risen, run
— run, say — said, see — seen, sell — sold, send — sent, shine — shone,
shoot — shot, shut — shut, sing — sung, sit — sat, sleep — slept, speak —
spoken, spend — spent, stand — stood, steal — stolen, swim — swum, take
— taken, teach — taught, tear — torn, tell — told, think — thought, throw —
thrown, wake — woken, wear — worn, win — won, write — written

Just, just about, already, yet, still, for, since

 Practice Time

Positive Form

Negative Form

yes/no and -wh question form

Review

Past simple or Present perfect

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsM1Gfqj
abc&list=PL2IkMHFHWdEpXFHfenZUPXD8K
8-OzveXI&index=58
See you next time!