
Look at these examples to see how the present perfect simple and continuous are used.
We've painted the bathroom.
She's been training for a half-marathon.
I've had three coffees already today!
They've been waiting for hours.
Try this exercise to test your grammar.
Read the explanation to learn more.
Grammar explanation
We use both the present perfect simple (have or has + past participle) and the present perfect continuous (have or has + been + -ing form) to talk about past actions or states which are still connected to the present.
Focusing on result or activity
The present perfect simple usually focuses on the result of the activity in some way, and the present perfect continuous usually focuses on the activity itself in some way.
Present perfect simple | Present perfect continuous |
Focuses on the result | Focuses on the activity |
You've cleaned the bathroom! It looks lovely! | I've been gardening. It's so nice out there. |
Says 'how many' | Says 'how long' |
She's read ten books this summer. | She's been reading that book all day. |
Describes a completed action | Describes an activity which may continue |
I've written you an email. | I've been writing emails. |
When we can see evidence of recent activity | |
The grass looks wet. Has it been raining? I know, I'm really red. I've been running! |
Ongoing states and actions
We often use for, since and how long with the present perfect simple to talk about ongoing states.
How long have you known each other?
We've known each other since we were at school.
We often use for, since and how long with the present perfect continuous to talk about ongoing single or repeated actions.
How long have they been playing tennis?
They've been playing tennis for an hour.
They've been playing tennis every Sunday for years.
Sometimes the present perfect continuous can emphasise that a situation is temporary.
I usually go to the gym on the High Street, but it's closed for repairs at the moment so I've been going to the one in the shopping centre.
Do this exercise to test your grammar again.
Like, yea i like it
Hello, sirs.
I came across this question:
I ___ many relatives recently.
a] have met
b] have been meeting
I think both options are possible as there's no complete context. In addition, I know that 'recently' can be used with both forms and the past simple tense as well.
What do you think?
Hello aymanme2,
I agree that both forms are grammatically possible. The continuous form (b) would suggest a repeated action - many different meetings over a period of time - while the simple form (a) could also describe meeting many relatives in a single meeting.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Thanks, sir.
I got it.
However, to be more sure of my understanding, does 'many relatives' make any difference as I have found out that we usually use the present perfect simple to specify a particular number of times/things.
Ex.
I've written two essays this week. [ not have been writing]
I mean does the word 'many' and alike make the simple form more appropriate/
Hello again aymanme2,
You're right that adding a specific quantity tends to suggest a simple form. This is because specific quantities are often associated with lists of completed tasks or achievements rather than time spent on a particular activity. Thus, 'I've written two essays this week' answers the question 'How many essays have you written?' rather than 'What have you been doing?' or 'How have you been spending your time?'
In your original sentence I don't think 'many' has the same effect. Partly this is because it is not a clear quantity like a number but mainly it is because the action described is not one with any real finishing point or sense of completion. Meeting relatives does not have an end point in the same way that reading a book has.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Really appreciated. Thanks 🍀
How Do I teach this to my friend, she is French-German and is learning this but she is having a difficult time with it, can someone help me.
Hello Pothecat_06,
I think the best way is through examples, particularly examples which provide a clear contrast. For example:
It can be useful to translate sentences like this into your (her) own language as it helps to show how different concepts are expressed. For example, in English we distinguish between completed past actions (past simple) and actions in the past with a present result (present perfect); many other languages do not. Seeing the differences between languages can be very enlightening.
I hope those suggestions help.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Team. Is it correct to use "already" or "just" in present perfect continuous?
- I have already been cooking for 2 hours.
- I had already been waiting for them for 10 minutes before they came.
Thank you.
Hello Ahmed Imam,
Yes, it would be a little unnatural to use 'already' in both of the sentences you mention, but in general I'd say it's possible to use 'already' and 'just' with present perfect continuous or past perfect continuous.
In the first sentence, if the purpose of the sentence is to emphasise that you've already put a lot of time into cooking, there's no need to say 'already' -- saying 'I've been cooking for 2 hours' communicates this idea very clearly and emphatically by itself. But I wouldn't say it's wrong to say 'already', just a bit unusual.
In the second, if I were going to use 'already', I'd probably change the end: 'I'd already been waiting for them for 10 minutes when they arrived'. 'when they arrived' talks about a point in time and recreates my experience of that moment in time, which seems more appropriate than 'before they came', which has a more detached, general perspective. But again, I wouldn't say the sentence you mention is incorrect.
Hope this helps.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello team. Could you please tell me which sentence is correct? If both are correct, what is the difference?
1- My brother had written short stories for three years before he published them.
2- My brother had been writing short stories for three years before he published them.
Thank you.
Hi Ahmed Imam,
Both are correct, but I think sentence 2 (past perfect continuous) is more likely to be used than sentence 1 because the continuous structure, which highlights the duration of the action, supports the meaning of "for three years".
I hope that helps.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Jonathan,
I'd like to ask for your help.
Webster's online dictionary cites the following sample sentence :
In past winters(=in winters past), we have had much more snow.
Questions:
[1] Would it be grammatically correct to use the present perfect tense with a past time adverbial (i.e. in past winters or in winters past) ?
[2] If so, could I say this sentence ?
In past exhibitions, they have sold more cars.
I would highly appreciate your explanation. Thank you.
Hi melvinthio,
Good question! Let's compare two sentences.
1. In past winters, we HAD much more snow. (past simple)
2. In past winters, we HAVE HAD much more snow. (present perfect)
In sentence 1, the focus is the amount of snow in the past (i.e., the past is the topic of the conversation that this sentence appears in).
In sentence 2 (present perfect), the focus is not the past but the present - i.e., the amount of snow at the present moment, and how it is less than in the past. The past is mentioned just as a contrast to the present.
So, in the context of keeping the conversation focused on the present, not the past (e.g. "we have had much more snow than THIS"), I think most people would find sentence 2 grammatically acceptable. But if the conversation was all about the past, without comparing it to the present, sentence 2 would be unacceptable.
I think it also helps the acceptability that the time phrase is rather general - "in past winters" - and can be understood as similar to other general past time references which are compatible with the present perfect (e.g. "before"). A more specific phrase (e.g. "In the winter of 2015, we have had much more snow") would probably make the present perfect less acceptable, perhaps because it indicates relatively more emphasis on the past than the present.
I hope that helps.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello again ngoc,
In 1, you are right in thinking that the crying is the result of the chopping -- it is the result of recent activity. In this kind of situation where the results of an action which is either still happening or which just recently happened, we often use the present perfect continuous form.
In 2, you are right in thinking that the match will continue (and therefore they could score again), but the present moment in the sentence is the half-time period, which is a time when no goals can be scored. Here there is a focus on the result. If we changed the timeframe to a longer one -- for example, the past three months -- we could say 'They've been scoring four goals every match the past few months' and that would be correct.
In 3, I can see how it makes sense that the little piece of bread is evidence of recent activity, but the idea here is that the speaker is focusing on the result -- presumably, the speaker was expecting to have a nice big piece but only enough for one bit is left.
Hope this helps. The present perfect in English can take some practice to master; you've made a great start, but be patient with yourself and keep yours open for other examples in your reading and listening -- that will also help you understand it even more.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi lima9795,
The basic meaning is very similar, but sentence 2 using the present perfect emphasises the action ('you being right') happening over time and continuing until the present moment, while sentence 1 presents it as something that happened in the past. You're right that both are grammatically possible.
I hope that helps.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi melvinthio,
By current situation I mean a sentence which describes what is true now without reference how long it has been true. For example:
I live in Paris - current situation
I've lived in Paris for five years - reference to how long/since when
With regard to the sentences you list, all of them describe a current situation. That's not to say the present perfect cannot be used if the sentences were changed to make them more general - after all, you would be talking about all your life rather than one specific moment. However, it's possible to think of a context in which even a specific element occurs throughout a person's life:
I hope that helps to claritfy this for you. We have a lot of users on the site who have a lot of questions and we're a small team here, so there is a limit to how much detail we can put into our answers to any particular user, and how much time we can spend on any one particular topic or line of questions.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello melvinthio,
It's perfectly acceptable to use the present perfect with stative verbs of this type when referring to experience in our lives. For example, your sentence describes the speaker's life experience:
Here are some similar examples with other stative verbs. In each example you can omit the time reference:
As you can see, the key point in whether you are talking about life experiences or not, not whether or not you are talking about people.
When you talk about a current situation then the present simple is much more likely whether you are talking about people or objects, unless you include a time reference such as for... or since...
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Melvin,
[1] Yes, right!
[2] Generally that's the right idea. But I wouldn't say that stative verbs in the present perfect cannot be used in those sentences. I don't think we can prescribe a grammatical rule in that way, because it is grammatically possible to use them, and I'm sure we could see or hear examples of people using them. One reason for this is that the context of the conversation might make a time reference obvious, even if it's not mentioned in that sentence. Another reason is that people don't always speak in ideal or perfect sentences.
But, if a particular structure makes the speaker's intended meaning complicated or unclear, despite being grammatically correct, speakers are less likely to use it, and probably choose simpler forms instead. (That's what I would recommend too.) That's why I say that it's 'unlikely' to be used, rather than the absolute statement that 'it cannot be used'.
I hope that helps.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Melvin,
Yes, those present perfect versions are grammatically possible, but I would say they are relatively unlikely to be used. Stative verbs in the present perfect are often used when we want to focus on the length of time by adding a time expression (e.g. I've known this word for years … / You haven't had a new mobile phone since you left school …), but these would make the example sentences quite complicated (e.g., If you haven't already known this word for years, check it out - correct, but complicated). Speakers would most likely choose a simpler way to say these (i.e., using simple verb tenses).
Note that in example 1, the verb subscribe can mean (1) the action of starting a subscription, i.e. a single action, or (2) the state of being a subscriber (i.e., a stative verb - e.g. I subscribe to 'News' magazine / I've subscribed to 'News' magazine for years). If you say haven’t already subscribed, without any time expression to show that it’s intended as a stative verb, I would understand it as a single action - meaning number (1). I think it would also be common to use action verbs in the other examples too, rather than stative ones in the present perfect, e.g. If you haven’t already learned this word … / It’s strange that you haven’t already bought/got a mobile phone …
Does that make sense?
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Melvin,
Yes, right! I think by now is particularly common, as it fits exactly with the meaning of already (i.e., before now).
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Melvin,
[1] Yes, this sentence is correct and the meaning is clear.
[2] For the meaning 'it should have happened by now' in sentence 2 in your previous message, it seems to me that it's common to use already with other language which also suggests a lack of timely action (i.e., that the speaker is making a criticism). It could be an adjective, as in the examples in my last comment. More examples could be: I was angry/annoyed/shocked/stunned that they hadn't already told me the news. Or, the verb might show criticism, e.g. I regretted/hated/resented (the fact) that they hadn't already told me the news. Or, a particular structure can even suggest criticism (e.g. the rhetorical question in my last comment). I'm afraid I can't really give a complete list here - the point is that all the language underlined above shows that the speaker is dissatisfied, and this - taken together with already - makes the 'it should have happened by now' meaning clearer.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Melvin,
Yes, I think your conclusions are fair :)
For the example about being choosy, too should change to so, because to show the result of an adjective, the structure is so + adjective + that clause (not too).
After making this change, I think the ‘choosy’ example makes some sense, but I find it a bit hard to follow the time logic. If you say He’s so choosy that … , the ‘that’ clause should show the result of being choosy. Since He’s so choosy is in the present, it’s expected that the result is in the present or the future (e.g. He’s so choosy that he still can’t find a job – present). It’s a bit unexpected for the result to be before the present (he hasn’t already got a job – 'already' refers to ‘before now’, not including ‘now’).
However, we could say:
In negative sentences, yet and still can include ‘now’ and mean something like ‘even now’.
Also, for the meaning of 'it should have happened by now' (i.e. criticism), I find that already is often used together with other language that supports the interpretation of that meaning, for example: I was surprised that they hadn't already told me the news. I think 'already' is less likely to be used alone to express that meaning. It would be more natural to say, for example:
I hope that helps.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Melvin,
I'm sorry if you were expecting a reply from Jonathan, but he is unavailable for a few days and so I thought I'd answer for him.
Regarding 2, as someone who grew up in the US, I can assure you that the explanation Jonathan gave you is also true of American English. To be more precise, what the teachers of American English told you could be true of some sentences in specific contexts, but what Jonathan explained is also true of sentences such as the one he gives as an example.
Regarding 1, I expect that Jonathan was thinking of the tenses that most commonly occur with 'already'. As you point out -- and which the Cambridge Dictionary also uses in some examples -- 'already' can also be used with the present simple in some instances.
All the best,
Kirk
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Melvin,
Just adding to Kirk's great answer - in my previous comment I said that the present simple in that particular sentence wasn't right (not that the present simple cannot be used with 'already' + negative in general). The sentence was:
We can't use 'become' in the present simple here because 'become a member' means 'change into a member' or 'start being a member' (i.e. it's a single action). But the present simple shows a regular action, a state in the present, or something that is always true, so 'become a member' doesn't make sense with these meanings. Becoming a member is something people normally do a single time, not regularly.
But, we could say these:
So, the reason is about the meaning of 'become a member' in the present simple. It's not related to the use of 'already'. Does that make sense?
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Melvin,
The Cambridge Dictionary (see the ‘Negatives’ section) agrees that already in negative sentences refers to something that should have happened, while yet is for something that simply has not happened. You may also find interesting discussions of this question elsewhere online (e.g. this Stack Exchange discussion).
About the different explanations that you’ve heard from different teachers, I would say two things:
If you’ve already registered, thanks a lot! If you haven’t already registered, …
But with an example sentence abstracted from context, two people could look at it and imagine totally different contexts of use, leading them to give to different explanations.
It is possible that there are differences between British and American English usage here. But in general, we should also consider other explanations. For example, perhaps those teachers you mentioned had particular examples or a particular lesson or a particular context in mind. Or perhaps their intention was to give an easier-to-understand or more practical explanation. It’s hard for us to comment on other teachers’ comments – it might be better to follow up with them.
I hope this helps in some way, but I'm afraid it may not be possible for us to ‘clear up your confusion’ as you put it – as you can see, even language teachers have differences of opinion. But perhaps this is only natural with something as complex and diverse as language usage.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Melvin,
Although compared to yet gives a stronger sense that the speaker expects the action has in fact been done. For example:
So, the already version may be used if a speaker expects that you have in fact contacted him, but just wants to check or confirm it. The yet question may be used when the speaker is pointing out something he/she thinks you might have forgotten to do or haven't done in time.
About your second question, yes - in modern usage, already is used with the past simple (as in your sentence 3), even though traditionally it is taught that it should be used with perfect verb forms. But the verb form in sentence 2 isn't right - (doesn't) become in the present simple doesn't work. It should be in the present perfect (or past simple).
I hope that helps.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Melvin,
Yes, as far as I know. I would also add that:
I hope that helps!
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Ahmed Imam,
No, it's incorrect because met is a momentary action, but since shows the action had a duration until the present. So, here are two corrections we can make:
I hope that helps.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Team.
In Cambridge Advanced Grammar in Use; 2nd edition Page 6 unit 3, I found the following sentence "Have you met any of your neighbours since you've lived here?" The book used "have met". What do you say? or what is the difference between my question and this sentence?
Thank you.
Hi Ahmed Imam,
OK, yes - let me make a correction. It IS a correct sentence if the intended meaning is "I have met John in that time period" (i.e. from September to now).
Reading the original sentence, that meaning did not occur to me at first, perhaps because without knowing the context in which this is said, it is unclear why September is significant for the speaker. That's why I interpreted the sentence as about the length of time that the person has known John. (In this meaning, the significance of September is clear - it's the time that John and the speaker first met.)
Perhaps this is a good example of the importance of the context for interpreting meaning :)
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hi Melvin,
The sentences are grammatically fine. In all four sentences, the ‘at any time’ meaning is already conveyed by other words (any house / all the cars / every lesson / people who have suffered), so ‘ever’ can be deleted without changing the basic meaning of the sentences, and I think many speakers would ordinarily leave ‘ever’ out from those sentences – unless they were in situations where they wanted to make that particular emphasis.
But, sentence 3 is more common than the others, because it contains a commonly used phrase: every ___ I’ve ever ___ (e.g. everything I’ve ever done / every man I’ve ever known / every film I’ve ever seen).
Also, it’s true that ever is often used in relative clauses, but it’s not limited to that. For example:
I hope that helps.
Jonathan
The LearnEnglish Team
Hello Ahmed Imam,
I think both are possible and there's really little difference in meaning as both are asking about an open time period.
Peter
The LearnEnglish Team