Lesson 4
Present perfect
The next present tense is the perfect. As we saw in the main verb tense table above, it is formed with “have” or “has” and the past participle form of the verb.
| Positive | Negative | Question |
| I have visited Paris. | I have not visited Paris. | Have I visited Paris? |
| You have visited Paris. | You have not visited Paris. | Have you visited Paris? |
| We have visited Paris. | We have not visited Paris. | Have we visited Paris? |
| They have visited Paris. | They have not visited Paris. | Have they visited Paris? |
| He has visited Paris. | He has not visited Paris. | Has he visited Paris? |
| She has visited Paris. | She has not visited Paris. | Has she visited Paris? |
| It has visited Paris. | It has not visited Paris. | Has it visited Paris? |
The present perfect can be a little trickier than other present tenses, so let’s look closely at three of its uses.
1.A finished action or state that occurred at an indefinite time in the past.
- I have been to
- She has eaten
- They have learned
Each of these actions occurred but we don’t state exactly when they occurred. This use is very common but also quite vague. It could refer to an isolated event that is either long or short, or something that happened repeatedly, or some- thing that was true over a long period of time. Basically, it refers to something that definitely has happened and no particular time is stated.
- Something that has happened in the past but may happen again in the future because the time period is not yet
- It has rained
- She has had four coffees this
- They have been to the office twice this
In each of these situations, there is a time period that is still continuing (today, this morning, this afternoon) and although the actions have already occurred, they may be repeated again. For example, in the first sentence, it has already rained but it might rain again.
- Similar to the previous rule, present perfect can also be used for events that started in the past and may or may not be continued into the future.
- We’ve lived in Beijing for six
- They’ve been a couple since
- I’ve worked in finance for almost a
Notice the use of“since” and“for.”We often use these with the present perfect. “For” is followed by a period of time (“for five months”; “for two days” etc) and “since” is used to refer to a point in time (“since last Friday”; “since 1998”).