PRESENT PERFECT

PRESENT PERFECT FORM

The present perfect of any verb is composed of two elements :

the appropriate form of the auxiliary verb to have (present tense), plus the past participle of the main verb.

The past participle of a regular verb is base+ed,

e.g. played, arrived, looked. For irregular verbs, see the Table of irregular verbs .

Affirmative Subject to have past participle

She has visited

Subject to have + not past participle

She hasn't visited

Interrogative to have subject past participle

Has she visited..?

Interrogative negative

to have + not subject past participle Hasn't she visited...?

Present Perfect - Use

It is a combination of past and present. An actions in the past has something to do with the present.

Present Perfect We use the Present Perfect for actions in

the past which have a connection to the present. The time when these actions happened is not important.

We use the Present Perfect for recently completed actions.

We use the Present Perfect for actions beginning in the past and still continuing.

1) Result of an action in the past is important in the present (It is not important when this action happened. When we use a specific time in the past - e.g. yesterday - then we use the Simple Past.)

I have cleaned my room. (It is clean now.)

Has Peggy ever been to Tokyo? (Has Peggy been there or not?)

2) Recently completed actionsHe has just played handball. (It is over

now.)

Actions beginning in the past and still continuing - mostly with since (point of time) or for (period of time)

We have lived in Canada since 1986. (We still live there.)

4) together with lately, recently, yet

I have been to London recently. (no specific point of time)

He has not written the e-mail yet. (He has not done it.)

Example: to walk, present perfectAffirmative I have walked You have walked He, she, it has walked We have walked You have walked They have walked

Negative

I haven't walked You haven't walked He, she, it hasn't walked We haven't walked You haven't walked They haven't walked

Interrogative Have I walked? Have you walked? Has he,she,it walked Have we walked? Have you walked? Have they walked?

Present Perfect - Spelling

Add -ed with regular verbs.regular verbsinfinitive + -ed

Sometimes the are exceptions in spelling when adding -ed.

1) consonant after a short, stressed vowel at the end of the word

stop – stopped swap – swapped

We do not double the consonant if it is not stressed:benefit - benefited (Here we stress the first 'e', not the 'i'.)

In Britsh English we double one -l at the end of the word:travel - travelled

2) one -e at the end of the word

Leave out the -e. Add -d.

love – loved

save – saved

3) verbs ending in –yVerbs ending in 'y' preceded by a vowel (a,

e, i, o, u):Add -ed.

play - played

Change 'y' to 'i' after a consonant. Then add -ed.

worry - worried

You have to know all forms of the irregular verbs very well. For the Present Perfect you need the form of the verb which can be found in the 3rd column of the table of the irregular verbs.

go - went - gone

Special verbs in the Present Perfect

1) have as a full verbaffirmative sentenceI, we, you, they:I have had a book.he, she, it:He has had a book.

negative sentenceI, we, you, they:I have not had a book.he, she, it:He has not had a book.

questionI, we, you, they:Have I had a book?he, she, it:Has he had a book?

2) be as a full verbaffirmative sentenceI, we, you, they:I have been to Britain.he, she, it:He has been to Britain.

negative sentenceI, we, you, they:I have not been to Britain.he, she, it:He has not been to Britain.

questionI, we, you, they:Have I been to Britain?he, she, it:Has he been to Britain?

3) do as a full verbaffirmative sentenceI, we, you, they:I have done an exercise.he, she, it:He has done an exercise.

negative sentenceI, we, you, they:I have not done an exercise.he, she, it:He has not done an exercise.

questionI, we, you, they:Have I done an exercise?he, she, it:Has he done an exercise?

Long forms and short forms in the Present Perfect

We often use short forms of the auxiliaries. The Present Perfect is formed with the auxiliary have. So short forms are used frequently with the Present Perfect.

Affirmative long formI, we, you, they: I have gone

he, she, it:

he has gone

Affirmative short form

I, we, you, they: I've gone

he, she, it: he's gone

negative (have not)long form

I, we, you, they: I have not gone

he, she, it: he has not gone

short form I, we, you, they: I haven't gone

or I've not gone

he, she, it: he hasn't gone

or he's not gone

EXERCISES 1