Present perfect and past perfect
Present perfect simple
have been vs have gonea2
Present perfect simple: been and gone
Grammar contents
- ‘Where's Dad?’ ‘He's gone to the supermarket.’
- I've been to the supermarket. Do you want an apple?
- Andy has been to New York three times.
- Anna's gone to Santiago. She'll be back on Friday.
- Has Cathy gone to school today?
- Have you ever been to Iceland?
We form the present perfect simple of go with:
Subject + have/has + been/gone.
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| Subject | have | been/gone | |
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| He/She/It |
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We usually use short forms (I've, You've, He's, She's, We've, They've) when we are speaking and in informal writing.
| Questions (?) | |||
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| Have | subject | been/gone | |
| Have |
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| Has | he/she/it | ||
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We usually use short answers.
- ‘Has he gone to the supermarket?’ ‘Yes, he has.’
- ‘Have you ever been to New York?’ ‘No, I haven't.’
The verb go has two past participle forms: been and gone.
We use been when we know that someone has returned from a place.
- Dad's been to the supermarket. (= He went and now he has come back.)
We use gone when the person has not returned.
- Dad's gone to the supermarket. (= He is still at the supermarket.)
- Has Cathy gone to school today? (= Is she at school now?)
In questions with ever, we always use been.
- Have you ever been to Iceland?Have you ever gone to Iceland?
Grammar contentsView all
Present perfect and past perfect
Quantifiers, possessives and demonstratives