The Present PerfectUses with

-ever/never-Still/ already & yet

-unfinished past: for and since

We form the Present Perfect with Have/ Has and the past participle of verbs (3rd column of irregular verbs or –ED for regular verbs.

-She has broken her arm -They haven’t visited Paris -Have you seen Emily?

Structure

I have / haven’t –(have not) You have / haven’t He/she/it has / hasn’t

seen the film We have / haven’t You have / haven’t They have / haven’t

Affirmative and negative

For these sentences we invert the order of Subject and Auxiliary.

Have I Have you Has shetalked about the trip?

Have we Have you Have they

--These questions may contain a Question Word at the beginning of course.◦ -Where have you been?

Interrogative

A) LIFE EXPERIENCE (EVER-NEVER)-we use this tense to express things we have done in our life. We can say –never or how many times-. But we never say when.

Adverbs EVER and NEVER are used between the auxiliary and the verb.

Have you ever seen a UFO? Lou has visited Paris twice I have been to Tarragona many times. They have never come to Barcelona.

USES

B) Recent past- (JUST) We use Present Perfect with JUST to express an action that happened very recently, just few minutes ago. It is not often used in questions. We use “Recently”Just is placed between the auxiliary and the verb, too.

-We have just finished dinner. We’re clearing up.-She has just fallen off her bike. She’s crying.-They have just married!

Uses

C) PRESENT RESULT-(ALREADY & YET/STILL) We also use this tense to express the present result of past actions. ALREADY is used in affirmative sentences between the auxiliary and the participle and YET in questions and negatives at the end of the sentence. STILL is also used in negatives but before the auxiliary.

I have already read J.K.Rowling’s new book.

We still haven’t seen the new film. We haven’t seen the new film yet. Have you finished your homework yet?

Uses

D)Unfinished past- (FOR-SINCE) *An action started in the past but continuing in the present. Here this tense connects the past and the present.

*It is used to say how long an action has been going on and we use FOR and SINCE with time expressions.

-SINCE- used with a point in time.2010today…-She has worked here since 2010.-FOR- used with a period of time

2010today……-She has worked here for six/seven.. years.

Uses

It is true that in this last use of the Present Perfect, English speakers tend to use the Present Perfect Continous.

HAVE/ HAS + BEEN + PAST PARTICIPLEAs they are referring to how long, to the duration of the action, then they would say in these cases: She has been working here since 2010 / for

six years. I’ve been studying English for ages.And so we ask: How long have you been doing this?NOTE: remember stative verbs for this use!

*Uses of tenses with FOR and SINCE