Present perfect and past perfect
Present perfect simple
affirmative, negative, yes/no questionsa2
Present perfect simple: positive
Grammar contents
- I've played in a band.
- She's had dance lessons.
- They've visited lots of interesting places.
We form the present perfect simple with:
Subject + have/has + past participle.
| Positive (+) | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Subject | have/has | past participle | |
|
have |
|
|
| He/She/It | has | ||
|
have | ||
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.
Regular verbs have past participles which are the same as their past simple forms, ending -ed.
- We visited London. → She's visited many cities.
- The letter arrived yesterday. → The letter has arrived!
Irregular verbs have irregular past participles. Sometimes the past participle of an irregular verb is the same as the past simple form.
- They had dance lessons last year. → We've had swimming lessons.
- We met for a coffee last week. → They've met many times before.
Sometimes the past participle of an irregular verb is different from the past simple form.
- She did some homework last night. → She's done lots of homework.
- I spoke to the manager yesterday. → I've spoken to the manager.
We can use the present perfect to talk about life experiences of a living person.
- She's eaten in lots of expensive restaurants.
- I've travelled around India.
- They've read all the Harry Potter books.
We don't say when the action happened with the present perfect.
- I've visited Paris.I've visited Paris last year.
We don't use the present perfect to talk about the experiences of dead people.
- Shakespeare wrote more than 30 plays.Shakespeare has written more than 30 plays.
Grammar contentsView all
Present perfect and past perfect
Quantifiers, possessives and demonstratives