Present Perfect: Your COMPLETE Guide!

Hey students today we have a mega lesson about one of the most common English verb tenses and that is the present perfect tense This lesson will teach you everything you ever wanted to know about the present perfect. We'll cover. What is the present perfect? When do we use it? There's two situations How to form the present perfect in positive negative statements and questions. What is the past participle? How do we use it with ever and never? How do we use the present perfect with already yet recently lately and just? How about with for and since? We can have present perfect active voice and present perfect passive voice and finally the difference between the present perfect simple and the present perfect continuous Who this is like the complete guide to the present perfect and you can actually download a free PDF with all the information From this lesson as well as not one not two not three, but four Quizzes very important to practice what you're learning Click on the link under this video and enter your email so I can send you that free PDF Okay, let's start with what is the present perfect tense and when do we use it? We form the present perfect by subject have or has and the past participle of the main verb for example I have bought a car recently She has visited the museum several times We use the present perfect for two situations one is for Unfinished time a period of time that continues to the present moment That's differently from the simple past which describes finished time. So look at the contrast Present perfect. We have lived in New York since 2002 and we still live in New York It's a period of time that's unfinished it started in the past and it continues to the present But we would use the simple past to say we lived in New York from 2002 to 2006 So in this case, we do not still live in New York. So the present perfect is used for unfinished time and also Unspecified time when we don't know or don't say exactly when that's different from the simple past tense Which describes specific time so contrast present perfect. I've seen that movie I don't say exactly when I've seen it sometime in my life Simple past I saw that movie a year ago. Now I say specifically Present perfect. He has sold his house recently. So it happened recently, but I don't know exactly when Simple past he sold his house last week. See the contrast between specified and unspecified time So again to form the present perfect in positive statements, we have I you we or they have Written or he she or it has written and in spoken English It's common to use the short form for have or has so instead of saying I have written three books We would say I've written three books We've already seen that movie Barbara's forgotten her cell phone. He's just woken up. That's he has just woken up To form negative sentences. We have I you we or they Haven't or have not seen He she or it hasn't or has not seen for example I haven't seen John this week Mary hasn't come to class for the past two days and To form questions in the present perfect have or has goes before the subject So have I you we or they finished? Has he she or it finished for example? Have you finished the project yet? Has George ever been to New York? To answer present perfect questions We can make a short answer using that helping verb have or has or the negative form haven't or hasn't So if someone asks you have you been to London you could respond? Yes, I have or no. I haven't Has Alex met Miriam yet? Yes, he has or no He hasn't have the results of the election been announced. Yes, they have or no, they haven't Since in the present perfect we have a helping verb and a main verb it is possible to say have had and has had when have is both the helping verb and The main verb in the sentence for example, I've had a lot of computer problems lately. I have had She's had or she has had three children in the past five years We haven't had time to visit our relatives He hasn't had a haircut for months again in those sentences Have is both the helping verb and the main verb in the present. Perfect. That main verb is in past participle Form what is the past participle? Well for regular verbs the past participle is the same as the past simple tense. So I Worked all day yesterday. That's the simple past. I've worked here since August. That's the present perfect So we have worked in the simple past and worked as the past participle It's also the case for many irregular verbs. He sold simple past his car last week He has sold Present perfect using the past participle 200 books so far But beware because some irregular verbs past participles are different from their simple past form For example, we wrote simple past an article for the newspaper We've written for many famous publications. That's the present perfect Now many of these irregular past participles and in n like take took taken Do did done and eat ate eaten Others have a change in the vowel like begin began begun Drink drank drunk and come came come In that case the past participle is actually the same as the simple present Now if you download the free PDF lesson guide, I've included a list of lots more verbs like these with their three forms Okay, so make sure you get that so you can be sure to use the correct past participle Let's move on to how to use the present perfect with ever and never So we do this to talk about actions done at any time in a person's life or at any time in history until now For example, have you ever been to Japan? Has she ever seen Titanic? Have they ever ridden a motorcycle? Has Jason ever failed a test in his whole life? Now we use ever in questions only but not in statements So don't say I've ever been to Japan just say I've been to Japan Never we can use in statements, but only with have or has not with haven't or hasn't So don't say my sister hasn't never seen Titanic. That's a double negative We can't do that in English instead say my sister has never seen Titanic or we could say it another way my sister hasn't seen Titanic or hasn't ever seen Titanic a Few more common words that are used with the present perfect are already yet Recently lately and just because they refer to a recent but non specific time period Okay Remember we learned that a specific time would be yesterday or three hours ago or last Friday and with those we would use the simple But with already and yet we use the present perfect already can be used in positive statements and questions For example, I've already read today's newspaper. Have you already paid the electric bill? She's finished the test already Now already can go in between have and has and the past participle or at the end of the sentence Yet can be used in negative statements and questions. We haven't cleaned the house yet Has he told you the good news yet? Have they booked their tickets yet as you can see yet usually goes at the end of the sentence or phrase Recently and lately can be used in positives negatives or questions. For example, he's recently lost some weight I haven't seen her recently Have you spoken to Beth recently? I've gotten a lot of spam emails lately Adam and Jessica haven't been to church lately Have you seen any good movies lately and the word just which means very recent is typically only used in Positive statements and questions, but not negative statements. For example, don't touch the walls I've just painted them and they're still wet. Have you just gotten back from the gym? You're pretty sweaty So all of those examples were using the present perfect But spoken American English often uses the simple past with already yet and just Even though the present perfect would be more technically correct So you'll often hear Americans say did you book the tickets yet? Instead of have you booked? I already replied to the email instead of I've already replied We just got back from the gym instead of we've just gotten back Okay, that's a little bit of an exception because spoken English doesn't always perfectly follow the grammar rules Next let's talk about for and since so the present perfect is used with for and since to talk about actions that started in The past and continue to the present. I've lived here since 2004 I've lived here for eight years Since is used with a point in time. So we use since with dates since 2011 since January since Tuesday times 615 noon this morning and past events since I was a child since he graduated from college, etc Since is always used with the present perfect and not the simple past for is used with a time period so since with a point in time and for a time period and We can use for for time periods of any length for five seconds for eight hours for two days for six weeks for nine months For ten years for centuries and so on for can be used with present perfect or simple past But the meaning changes for example If I say we've lived in Berlin for six months, it means we still live in Berlin now But if I say we lived in Berlin for six months simple past That means those six months were some time in the past and we don't live in Berlin now There's a quiz to help you practice for and since in that downloadable PDF give it a try to be sure you've mastered these Next let's learn about present perfect active voice and passive voice So here's how we form passive voice sentences with the present perfect. We have the active voice I have sent the packages and the passive voice the packages have been sent Active he has fixed the car Passive the car has been fixed so there's two helping verbs in the present perfect passive have or has been and then the main verb and Notice that whether we use have or has depends on the new subject of the passive sentence. So we say I Have sent the letter that was active the letter has been sent So has to match the new subject the letter He has fixed the wheels that was active and we change it to passive the wheels have been Fixed so have matches the new subject the wheels and our final topic for today Is the present perfect simple and the present perfect continuous the present perfect continuous these sentences like I Have been working here since 1992 or He hasn't been sleeping well lately To ask questions. We start with the question word and then the auxiliary verb have or has Subject been and then the ING form. How long have you been studying English? How long has she been playing tennis? Now in some cases the present perfect simple and the present perfect continuous are the same So I've worked here since 1992 is the same as I've been working here since 1992 There's no difference in those two sentences But we sometimes use the present perfect continuous to emphasize the action and the present perfect simple to emphasize the result Look at these sentences. I've been working on this report for three weeks That's the continuous form it emphasizes the action of working I've finished the project that emphasizes that the project is done We've been cleaning the house all afternoon that puts more emphasis on the action of cleaning We've cleaned the bathroom and the kitchen so that emphasizes the fact that the bathroom and kitchen are done One thing to remember is that state verbs are never used in the present perfect continuous So don't say I've been knowing my best friend since elementary school the correct sentences I've known my best friend since elementary school Don't say she's been seeming preoccupied lately. You need to use the present perfect simple She's seemed preoccupied lately because seem is a state verb It's very common in spoken English to use the present perfect continuous to talk about ways you have spent your time Recently look at this little conversation for example, hi Joanna. What have you been up to lately? I've been training for a karate competition Wow, good luck. And how is your son? He's good. He's been studying a lot lately because finals are coming up next week Are you still with me is your head spinning? Well now, you know all about the present perfect tense in English I know that was a lot to take in so your next step is to download the lesson PDF and quizzes to review and Practice everything, okay And if you'd like to keep working on your English grammar come join my advanced English grammar course because you'll learn in detail about verb tenses advanced sentence structure nouns adjectives adverbs prepositions and much more what's great about the course is that the lessons not only help you understand the English grammar rules But also put it into practice in your own English. You can even send in your written English for correction You can find the advanced grammar course at Espresso English net. I'd love to help you keep perfecting your grammar skills Thanks for watching download that PDF and I'll talk to you next time