Look at these examples to see how the present perfect is used.
He's been to ten different countries.
I haven't seen her today.
My phone's run out of battery. Can I use yours?
Have you ever dyed your hair a different colour?
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
- Grammar test 1
Read the explanation to learn more.
Grammar explanation
We use the present perfect simple (have or has + past participle) to talk about past actions or states which are still connected to the present.
Unfinished time and states
We often use the present perfect to say what we've done in an unfinished time period, such as today, this week, this year, etc., and with expressions such as so far, until now, before, etc.
They've been on holiday twice this year.
We haven't had a lot of positive feedback so far.
I'm sure I've seen that film before.
We also use it to talk about life experiences, as our life is also an unfinished time period. We often use never in negative sentences and ever in questions.
I've worked for six different companies.
He's never won a gold medal.
Have you ever been to Australia?
We also use the present perfect to talk about unfinished states, especially with for, since and how long.
She's wanted to be a police officer since she was a child.
I haven't known him for very long.
How long have you had that phone?
Finished time and states
If we say when something happened, or we feel that that part of our life is finished, we use the past simple.
We visited Russia for the first time in 1992.
I went to three different primary schools.
Before she retired, she worked in several different countries.
We also use the past simple for finished states.
We knew all our neighbours when we were children.
I didn't like bananas for a really long time. Now I love them!
Past actions with a result in the present
We can use the present perfect to talk about a past action that has a result in the present.
He's broken his leg so he can't go on holiday.
There's been an accident on the main road, so let's take a different route.
They haven't called me, so I don't think they need me today.
Again, if we say when it happened, we use the past simple.
He broke his leg last week so he can't go on holiday.
However, we often use the present perfect with words like just, recently, already, yet and still.
We've recently started going to the gym.
She's already finished season one and now she's watching season two.
Have you checked your emails yet?
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
- Grammar test 2
Dear Sir or Madam,
I thought one shouldn't use the present perfect with a specific date. But in an article in The Economist I've read the following:
"On June 21st, 237 years later, the Supreme Court has come out against the chief author of the Bill of Rights—and Thomas Jefferson’s vision of a “wall of separation between church and state”—in a dispute over a tuition-assistance programme in Maine."
This article is dated 21th June. Does that expain it? Do I have to read "June 21st" as in "today"? In that case, depening on the meaning of "todaty", one can use the past simple or the present perfect, if I'm not mistaken.
Kinds regards,
Dr Paul
Hello Dr Paul,
Yes, that's right. The present perfect works because the article was published on the 21st and so it speaks of a same-day event. We often use the present perfect announce events that we regard as news; sometimes these events occurred a day or two earlier, but the present perfect shows their relevance to the present -- in other words, it shows that we consider them news.
But in this case, it's clearly referring to the same day.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Dear LearnEnglishTeam,
I have 1 more question about Past Simple vs Present Perfect. I read on the Internet that the rule that we can use Past Simple or Present Perfect with 'today, this week, etc.' depending on whether we see this time as finished or unfinished applies to American English. And for British English they use only Present Perfect with today, this week, this year, etc. For example, I've played tennis today. (It doesn't matter when exactly I played it, the day is not finished, so we must use Present Perfect.) I've been on holiday this year. (Can I use I was on holiday this year if I'm not going to go abroad again? In British English tests) Would you say that British English and American English differ in this aspect?
Hello HalynaP,
I don't think there is a difference like this between British and American English. It's fine to use the past simple with time markers like 'today' or 'this week' if you consider the action completed and to not have a direct present result. For example:
I'm a British English speaker, by the way.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Thank you very much, Peter. You helped me a lot.
Have a wonderful day)
Dear LearnEnglish Team,
could you please help me to better understand the rule "We often use the present perfect to say what we've done in an unfinished time period, such as today, this week, this year"?
I've made 3 reports today. I made three reports today.
Is it correct to use the past simple if I'm not going to make any more reports today? And to use Present Perfect if I am planning to continue making more reports?
I interviewed him twice this week. I have interviewed him twice this week.
Is it okay to use Past Simple if it's Sunday evening and it's clear that I will not interview him again this week?
Thank you in advance. I'll be looking forward to your reply
Hello HalynaP,
You could use either the past simple or the present perfect in both of the sentences you ask about. If you see the time in which you were working on reports today as finished, then the past simple form would be fine. You could also use the present perfect then, especially if you think of doing three reports as an accomplishment, i.e. something difficult to do or that you didn't expect to achieve today. If you planned to continue working today, then the past simple would not be a good choice, and with the present perfect you could indicate this more clearly by saying 'so far', for example: 'I've written three reports so far today'.
The principle is the same in the second situation. If you don't plan to interview him any more this week, then either form would be correct, and the past simple would be even more likely on Sunday evening since it's clear the week would be over in most situations.
It sounds to me as if you understand the idea here already, but I hope that helps confirm it for you.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Thank you very much for your answer, Kirk.
Yes, I needed confirmation that I understand the difference between the tenses correctly. Because sometimes in grammar books they say "today, this week, this year" - just use present perfect and that's it.
You helped me a lot.
Hi, sirs.
Hi, moderators.
I came across this sentence:
I 'haven't visited' Sharm for years, so a month ago, I went there with my family.
I think as long as the action, going to Sharm, finished a month ago, the best tense to use is the past perfect, right?
Is using the present perfect OK here?
Hi aymanme2,
Yes, I think the past perfect would express the meaning more precisely and be the better choice. However, I think people do make constructions like this, especially in contexts where accuracy is not strictly important (e.g., informal conversations), since the intended meaning is still clear.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello everyone
I have a question about present perfect tense particularly with the verbs BEEN and GONE. I know the difference between them in positive senteces, but what about in the negative ones? For example is it the same to say " I haven't BEEN to Cancún" and " I haven't GONE to Cancún" ???
Hello evasir72,
Generally speaking, the distinction is the same, with been suggesting a visit and return and gone suggesting that the person has still not come back. However, in informal language in some dialects people occasionally use 'gone' to mean 'visited':
I would say this is a non-standard use which is limited to informal use and which many people would consider incorrect.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi team
Thanks for your great efforts you are doing in making students more confident about grammar.
I have seen a ufo when I was in Italy.
I know that the sentence is incorrect
All I want you to do is to please tell me whether I’m correct in my explanation or not about why it is incorrect.
The verb I’ve seen means that I saw it in the past and have a memory of it now so it’s because of this present reference conflicting with the when clause referring to the past that the sentence is not correct. It’s like saying I have a memory of it when I was in Italy the sentence makes no sense .
Best regards
Andi
Hi Tony 1980,
I think you're more or less on the right lines.
'I've seen' is a present form. It describes a present state - memory or knowledge, for example. However, 'when I was' is a past form. It describes a completed historical past time: a time frame which is no longer open. The problem is that there is a conceptual inconsistency in the sentence. The first form tells us that the speaker considers the time frame open (it is still relevant) while the second tells us that the speaker considers the time frame closed.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Thanks Peter your explanation was really helpful I appreciate it
Hi Peter
In 3 years time I’ll be teaching English in one of my country’s university that’s why I wanted your professional help to tell me if I’m right in the following definitions:
A past event is a hypothetical present event seen from a real present event
perspective.
Since, serves as the starting point of the present perfect and because the starting point of the present perfect refers to the past , since, serves to indicate the past aspect of the present perfect and for this reason it is followed by a past tense.
Best regards
Andi
Hi Andi,
I'm afraid I don't really follow your thinking here. Hypothetical is used to describe whether an action is/was real or merely speculative. Past events could be either, so I don't understand what you're getting at.
At the moment it doesn't seem to make sense to me, but if you want to explain further with a concrete example then I'll be happy to consider it.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Peter
In fact I wanted to add an example but I didn’t want to be too long on my comment I’m so sorry
So, for my first definition ; if today, on Friday, the Teacher is explaining tenses to the students , tomorrow , on Saturday,one student would say; teacher explained us the tenses yesterday, on Friday. Also tomorrow, on Saturday, that student would hypothesize ( suppose ) that ; yesterday action ( teacher explained us …) is the same present action ( teacher is explaining…)if we suppose that yesterday is today, this all seen now not from a suppositional present but a real one ,if tomorrow now has come.
Sorry for being so long and confusing but I hope you find some time to deal with it.
Best regards
Andi
Hi again Andi,
I'm really sorry but I still don't know what you're trying to say. I've shown the question to a couple of colleagues and they're as confused as I am! I can see you have a conceptual framework that you're trying to apply but it seems to me that it only complicates the system rather than simplifying it. More than that I can't really say.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Peter
Sorry for engaging you in a confusing idea you rightfully said it complicates the system I highly appreciate your effort
What about my second definition; since, serves as the starting point…
Is it correct?
Best regards
Andi
Hi Andi,
Yes, that's correct. 'Since' shows the moment from which the given action occurs so the pattern is:
present perfect > since > past simple
I have lived in Paris since I was a student.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Team. Could you help me use the correct tense: present perfect or present perfect continuous? Why?
- Ali has fallen and we are taking him to hospital.
- Ali has been falling and we are taking him to hospital.
Thank you.
Hello Ahmed Imam,
Both sentences are correct but mean something slightly different. Well, actually, I'd need to know the full context to explain the difference with 100% certainty, but in general the first is speaking about one fall -- probably very recently.
The second one is talking about a series of falls in the recent past -- it could be over the past hour or over the past few months.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello ngoc,
In this situation, we assume that the person no longer has the old car; the idea is that when we get a new car, at the same time we get rid of the old one.
Since we no longer have the old car, having the old car is clearly in the past (no longer connected with the present), and so the past simple is the correct form.
This switch from present perfect to past simple is quite common. Another example:
A: Have you ever been to Vietnam?
B: Yes, I went there last year.
In this case, the frame for A's question is B's lifetime -- that is, the question asks if A has been to Vietnam at some point in their life; since B is still alive, their lifetime includes the present moment.
For B, the frame is the trip they made to Vietnam last year -- a specific past time that is no longer connected with the present.
I hope this helps.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Kapil Kabir,
The difference here is not related to the adjective but to the verb. Make can be used with the sense of 'produce' or with the sense of 'change into':
In your second pair of sentences only (3) is possible as a feature can change things but a feature cannot produce something from scratch.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello again Kapil Kabir,
Most adjectives can be used in both positions; changes in meaning are more related to the patterns associated with particular verbs than the adjective itself. There are some adjectives which are only used in one or other positions (alone and galore cannot be used in the attributive position, for example, while mere cannot be used in the predicative position), but these are quite rare.
There is no difference in meaning in your two examples, though the second conveys more information in that it contains a noun which specifies gender, for example.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Andi,
Of those two options, the correct one is 'have tried'. I'm not sure what sort of tense is natural in Albanian (or whatever language you speak), but I know my Spanish and Catalan students struggle with using the present perfect here, because in their languages, a tense similar to the present simple is the most natural.
In English, however, this is a case when we use the present perfect. Instead of thinking of the present perfect as referring to a past time that extends to the present, I'd suggest you think of it as a present time extending into the past. Not sure if that will make sense, but I thought I'd mention it.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Andi,
It's possible to say 'When has he arrived?', but in the vast majority of situations people would say 'When did he arrive?' because it could have been recently or earlier. In other words, the point of such a question is that we don't know the time of arrival, which means that from the speaker's point of view, it's at some indefinite time in the past -- hence the past simple.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Andi,
We use the present continuous for actions which are ongoing at the moment of speaking. That doesn't mean the speaker is actually performing the action right now, however.
For example, if I am in the middle of a book I might say this:
It doesn't mean I actually have the book in my hands; it means the process is underway (I'm somewhere in the middle and I read it from time to time).
Your examples are similar: the speaker is describing a process which is happening in the current time frame. Your speaker is telling us that they have begun the process of moving (packing up belongings etc) but not yet completed it.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi again Andi,
it's difficult to be certain without knowing the context, I'm afraid. The simple form is generally used to describe typical or normal behaviour; the continuous form suggests something which is temporary.
You might use the continuous form in your example if, for some reason, you consider the norm to be not going abroad every summer but the person in question has recently changed to start doing this. It's unlikely in this case because the time frame is necessarily years, and actions which cover years are difficult to think of as temporary unless we are talking about something which usually occurs over an even longer time frame such as where we live or work. Nevertheless, the choice is really psychological: whether or not we see the action or think of it as temporary or permanent.
It's also possible to use continuous forms to emphasise that an action is repeated and irritating or not desired: He's always leaving dirty dishes in the sink for people to wash. However, this does not seem applicable in your example.
I don't think the present perfect is likely in your other example as the plan is still current and we are interested in the future sense (an intention) rather than than in the past sense of doing all the organisation. If we wanted the latter we would probably add an adjective like 'already': What do you mean you've bought tickets to Italy? I've already planned to go to Peru!
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi team
Sorry for posting in present perfect section but there was no simple present section for me to post .
Stop right now! You break the flowers every time the ball lands in the flower bed.
Why present continuous isn’t possible here as we have the sentence “ stop right now “ which imposes present continuous.
I know that every time imposes a simple present but doesn’t it make it seem like it’s an action happening day after day and not an action happening at the moment of speaking?
Best wishes
Andi
Hello Andi,
By saying 'Your break the flowers every time the ball lands in the flower bed', the speaker is clearly referring to something that happens from time to time -- it's as if it were a habitual action, at least from the speaker's point of view.
In saying 'Stop right now!', they are indeed referring to the present moment right now. But this doesn't mean that all of the sentences after it have to refer to the immediate present. By using the next sentence, they're showing that the ball breaking the flowers happens regularly. The event of the ball landing in the flower bed is regular, but probably hasn't happened just now -- the speaker is trying to prevent it from happening again.
Does that make sense?
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Kirk
Your response was really helpful it really makes sense to me now.
I’m hungry. I haven’t eaten anything for hours.
Isn’t it right to put the perfect continuous here since “for hours” emphasis a duration. The fact that he is hungry is a result or a consequence for not eating for hours.
Best wishes
Andi
Hello Andi,
I'm glad you found it helpful.
It's true that 'for hours' usually refers to a duration of time, but here I think the point is more that it was several hours ago that the person last ate. In other words, even though they are referring to not eating over a duration, really what they're referring to is the last time they ate, which was a point in time rather than a duration.
This is a really good example of how people (unlike robots, which at least at this point rely on pattern recognition) choose linguistic forms not just based on other words in a sentence, but on the meaning they want to convey.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Kapil Kabir,
Interesting question! Yes, those sentences are grammatically correct. The meanings are similar to We'll need ten extra pounds and I've had three busy days.
Why is the article used? It shows that the speaker is thinking of 'ten pounds' not as ten individual units, but as one single unit, all together. That's why the indefinite article is used here - the basic structure is 'We'll need an extra (something)' , and the 'something' is 'ten pounds' (as one unit). Similarly, in sentence 2, the speaker is thinking of 'three days' as a single unit of time.
This structure is often used if the speaker wants to add an adjective to describe that unit. Here are some more examples: The journey was a long three hours / There were an incredible five hundred comments on the video. The structure is article + adjective + number + noun.
Thanks for your question! Please try to post questions on pages relevant to the question. This question would have been good on our Articles page, for example. Thanks :)
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Kapil Kabir,
You might want to refer to our Conditionals 1 and 2 pages, where you can see the structures that are taught in most textbooks and where we mention the mixed conditional. Often English learners get the impression that these structures are the only possible ones, but this is not the case.
I find the sentence that you cite a little confusing. The first part ('if this were to be the case') suggests an unreal present situation, but then it goes on ('this conflict would have long been over') to refer to an unreal past situation that seems to be dependent on the present situation. Perhaps I've misunderstood it, but this doesn't make sense to me. Perhaps I'm missing something here, but that's how I see the sentence here in isolation.
Both 3 and 4 are correct: 'if this were to be the case' is very similar in meaning to 'if this were the case'; both refer to an unreal condition in a hypothetical present or future time. The first form is more formal and makes it seem that this situation is even more unlikely that the second one, but other than that they mean the same thing.
Hope this helps you.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Gulnara_BC,
Good question! Yes, it is correct. The present perfect shows that the time period is unfinished - i.e., 2021 is not over yet, and it is possible for those numbers to change before 2021 ends. The meaning is something like 'so far in 2021'.
It's also possible to use the past simple, as you suggest: 30 workers were seriously injured and 4 workers died. We can also understand those particular accidents as completed events.
Somebody might choose to use the present perfect if they want to, perhaps, suggest to the reader that the situation might get worse before the year ends. Alternatively, somebody might use the past simple if they want to focus on the details of those particular accidents, without considering what may happen in future.
Does that make sense?
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Kapil Kabir,
'They never go there' is what we call the present simple; it is not the present perfect, which would be 'They have never gone there'.
'They never go there' does not necessarily mean they have never gone there; it can mean that they don't go there now, but it's possible they went there in the past.
The only way to know which meaning is intended is to examine the context or ask the person what exactly they mean.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team