Present perfect simple.

 The Present Perfect Simple Verb Tenses:

 

1-           The Perfect Tenses:

 

The opinion of many native and non-native English speakers is that the perfect tenses are far from being ‘perfect’. They cause headaches for most people. On these pages, we will break the perfect tenses down into short sections that will make them easier to understand.

 

2-           Useful Tip:

Time Expressions in the Present Perfect

• Use since with a specific year or a period in the past > since 2002 / since I was a child
• Use for with a number of years > for twenty years
• Use ever and yet in questions and negatives > Have you ever / hasn’t been yet
• Use already and never, just between have/has and the verb > has already finished / have just been
• Use before, since, for, already, many times, so far, yet at the end of a sentence or questions > Have you been there before?

 

3-           The present perfect simple tense is used to:

 

1-           Describe actions that occurred in the past but are still relevant to the present.

 

·         Examples:

 

1-           Rani has broken her arm. (She broke it in the past and can’t use her arm now.)

Describe an action that started in the past but is still happening on a regular or habitual basis (like the present simple).

 

 

2-           The girls have played tennis at the club since 2005. (They started to play tennis there in 2005 and still play there today. This does not mean they are playing tennis at the moment.)

·         Describe actions that were repeated several times in the past.

 

1.              I‘ve already made several calls.      (Up until now).

The specific time in the past is unimportant, just the fact that it happened.

·         Note: Time Expressions – Present Perfect:

1- NEVER use the same time expressions that you use in the past simple tense, such as: yesterday, a week ago, last night. You MAY use unspecific time expressions such as: ever, never, since, for, already, many times, before, so far, yet.

 

·         The Typical Present Perfect Sentence:

 

·         In order to form a typical sentence in the present perfect simple, choose a subject ((the person or thing that has done the action), add an auxiliary (or helping) verb: has or have + the V3 (past participle) form of the verb and then add the rest of the sentence.

 

 

Subject	have/has +Verb(V3) (Past Participle)	Rest of Sentence
I / You / We / They	have met	him before
He / She / It	has lived	here for three years

1-          The V3 (past participle) form of a regular verb looks just like a regular verb in the past simple:

 

1.                       walk > walked / study > studied / stop > stopped / create > created

·         There are quite a few irregular verbs in English. It pays to memorize them.

 

Note: Has Had – A verb combination that often causes confusion in the present perfect simple is has had or have had. Ex. I have had enough of your complaining! Have is the auxiliary (or helping) verb and had is the V3 (or past participle) of the main verb to have. It may look strange, but it is correct.

1-           Contractions in the Present Perfect Simple:

 

·         In general, we contract the subject (the person or thing that has done the action) and form of have:

 

1.                       I have > I’ve – I’ve used those images before.

2.                       He has > He’s / She has > She’s / It has > It’s – He’s already had the surgery.

3.                       We have > We’ve / You have > You’ve / They are > They’ve – We’ve just gotten home.

You may have noticed that the 3rd person singular (he, she, it) contractions look like those in the present progressive. You can tell them apart by the use of the V3 and from the context of the sentence: he is > He’s eating now. / he has > He’s eaten dinner already

Save the long forms for when you want to create emphasis. When speaking, you should stress the have/has.

1.                       He has sung that song. I know he has.

 

·         Negative Sentences in the Present Perfect Simple Tense

 

 

 

·         Spelling Tip:

 

When shortening the auxiliary verb have/has and the negative, just remove the o in not and add an apostrophe (‘)
has not > hasn’t
have not > haven’t

 

 

When creating negative sentences, we usually use hasn’t or haven’t together + the V3 (past participle) form of the verb. Save the long forms (has not, and have not) for when you want to create emphasis. When speaking, put the stress on ‘not’.

Subject	Auxiliary Verb	Verb in V3 (Past Participle)	Rest of Sentence
I / You / We / They	haven’t (have not)	ridden	a bike in many years
He / She / It	hasn’t (has not)	lost	enough weight yet

 

 

EXAMPLES:

 

1.                       I haven’t eaten at that restaurant in a long time.

2.                       Jim hasn’t worked on Fridays since he joined the company.

3.                       My friends haven’t ever gone to France.

4.                       I have not forgiven you!

 

1-           Yes/No Questions in the Present Perfect Simple:

 

·         To create a question that will be answered with a yes or no, start the question with Have or Has, (Haven’t or Hasn’t for a negative question) then add a subject (the person or thing that has done the action) followed by the V3 (Past Participle) form of the verb and only then add the rest of the sentence.

Auxiliary Verb	Subject	Verb in V3 (Past Participle)	Rest of Sentence
Have	I / you / we / they	begun	the meeting yet
Has	he / she / it	answered	your letter
Hasn’t	he / she / it	eaten	dinner yet

1.                       Have you ever gone ice skating?

2.                       Has Jerry presented his ideas to the CEO yet?

 

 

 

 

1-           Wh-Questions in the Present Perfect Simple:

 

 

 

Wh- questions are questions that require more information in their answers. Typical wh- words are:

 what, where, when, why, who, how, how many, how much.

 

 

 

 

·         To create a wh-question, start with the wh-word, then add have or has, then the subject (a person or thing that has done the action), followed by the V3 (Past Participle) form of the verb and only then add the rest of the sentence.

Wh-Word	Auxiliary Verb	Subject	Verb in V3 (Past Participle)	Rest of Sentence
What	have	I / you / we / they	read	lately
Why	has	he / she / it	changed	color

 

1-           EXAMPLES:

 

1.                       When have I ever lied to you?

2.                        

3.                       Why has Tanya left the country?

4.                       How much money have you spent so far?

 

2-           Tag Questions in the Present Perfect Simple:

 

Tag questions are those short questions that are tagged onto the end of a sentence. They are used just to make sure that the person you’re talking to understood what you meant or to emphasize what you said.

They’re formed by using a regular sentence in the present perfect simple, then adding haven’t or hasn’t and a pronoun (I, you, we, they, he, she, it) and a question mark.

 

1-           Examples of the Present Perfect Simple – Tag Questions:

 

1.                       John has known her for a couple of years, hasn’t he?

2.                       They have been in business since 1980, haven’t they?

You may also add a positive tag when you’re using a negative sentence.

1.                       Keisha hasn’t spoken to you yet, has she?

2.                       Those kids have never played rugby, have they?

 

1-          As a rule: When the sentence is positive, the tag is negative.

2- When the sentence is negative, the tag is positive.

 

Exercises – Present Perfect Simple

Fill in the correct form of the present perfect simple as in the examples.

 

 

1.                       Dan has worked in that company for 12 years. (work)

2.                       Have you heard the news? (hear)

3.                       The boys have never eaten sushi. (eat)

 

 

 

1.                       Daniel ____ that video clip at least twenty times. (see)

2.                       The workers _______ a break in 4 hours. (not have)

3.                       We ___________ them regularly over the last few years. (visit)

4.                       _______ Ella _______ her driving test yet? (pass)

5.                       Roger _______ to Mexico several times since 2002. (be)

6.                       They______ to each other in ages, _______ they? (not speak)

7.                       Why _______ Mathew _______his job? (quit)

8.                       ______the nurses ______ on strike again? (go)

9.                       ________ they ______ the post yet? (not deliver)

10.               I _____ already_______ you the answer. (tell)

Answers:

1.                       has seen

2.                       haven’t had

3.                       have visited

4.                       Has/passed

5.                       has been

6.                       haven’t spoken/have

7.                       has/quit

8.                       Have/gone

9.                       Haven’t/delivered

10.               have/ told

·         Examples – Present Perfect Simple

     Positive:

 

1.                       Rani has broken her arm.

2.                       The girls have played tennis at the club since 2005.

3.                       I’ve already made several calls.

 

·         Contractions:

 

1-I have > I’ve – I’ve used those images before.

1-                      He has > He’s / She has > She’s / It has > It’s – He’s already had the surgery.

2-                      We have > We’ve / You have > You’ve /They have > They’ve – We’ve just gotten home.

1-             Negative:

 

1.                       I haven’t eaten at that restaurant yet.

2.                       Jim hasn’t worked on Fridays since he joined the company.

3.                       My friends haven’t ever gone to France.

4.                       I have not forgiven you!

 

2 -Yes/No Questions:

 

1.                       Have you ever gone ice skating?

2.                       Has Jerry presented his ideas to the CEO yet?

3-Wh-Questions:

1.                       When have I ever lied to you?

2.                       Why has Tanya left the country?

3.                       How much money have you spent so far?

 

 

4-Tag Questions:

1.                      John has known her for a couple of years, hasn’t he?

2.                      They have been in business since 1980, haven’t they?

3.                      Keisha hasn’t spoken to you yet, has she?

4.                      Those kids have never played rugby, have they?

 

 

IRREGULAR VERBS IN PRESENT PERFECT LIST.

Irregular verbs:
There are several groups of irregular verbs that behave in the same way. If you can remember the pattern it will help you to learn some of the verbs.

	1st Column	2nd Column	3rd Column
Pattern 1	Bring	Brought	Brought
	Buy	Bought	Bought
	Catch	Caught	Caught
Pattern 2	Drink	Drank	Drunk
	Sink	Sank	Sunk
	Sing	Sang	Sung
Pattern 3	Choose	Chose	Chosen
	Loose	Lost	Lost
	Freeze	Froze	Frozen
Pattern 4	Bleed	Bled	Bled
	Feed	Fed	Fed
	Read	Read	Read
Pattern 5	Blow	Blew	Blown
	Grow	Grew	Grown
	Fly	Flew	Flown
Pattern 6	Deal	Delt	Delt
	Feel	Felt	Felt
	Keep	Kept	Kept
Pattern 7	Bet	Bet	Bet
	Cut	Cut	Cut
	Set	Set	Set

The following table is a list of the most common irregular verbs in English, it is highly reccommended that you learn it:

1st Column	2nd Column	3rd Column
be	was/were	been
become	became	become
begin	began	begun
blow	blew	blown
break	broke	broken
bring	brought	brought
build	built	built
burst	burst	burst
buy	bought	bought
catch	caught	caught
choose	chose	chosen
come	came	come
cost	cost	cost
cut	cut	cut
deal	delt	delt
do	did	done
drink	drank	drunk
drive	drove	driven
eat	ate	eaten
fall	fell	fallen
feed	fed	fed
feel	felt	felt
fight	fought	fought
find	found	found
fly	flew	flown
forbid	forbade	forbidden
forget	forgot	forgotten
forgive	forgave	forgiven
freeze	froze	frozen
get	got	got/gotten
give	gave	given
go	went	gone
grow	grew	grown
have	had	had
hear	heard	heard
hide	hid	hidden
hit	hit	hit
hold	held	held
hurt	hurt	hurt
keep	kept	kept
know	knew	known
lay	laid	laid
lead	led	led
leave	left	left
let	let	let
lie	lay	lain
lose	lost	lost
make	made	made
meet	met	met
pay	paid	paid
put	put	put
quit	quit	quit
read	read	read
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
shine	shone	shone
sing	sang	sung
sit	sat	sat
sleep	slept	slept
speak	spoke	spoken
spend	spent	spent
spring	sprang	sprung
stand	stood	stood
steal	stole	stolen
swim	swam	swum
swing	swang	swung
take	took	taken
teach	taught	taught
tear	tore	torn
tell	told	told
think	thought	thought
throw	threw	thrown
understand	understood	understood
wake	woke	woken
wear	wore	worn
win	won	won
write	wrote	written

 

·         Put a video of the present perfect in YouTube.

·         Make examples/ sentences.