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Hi, I’m Maria.
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Welcome to Oxford Online English!
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In this lesson, you can learn about the present
perfect verb tense in English.
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Hey Daniel, how long have you been a teacher?
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I’ve been a teacher for four years now.
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Have you taught many lessons on the present
perfect?
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Of course!
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I’ve taught hundreds!
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How many have you taught this week?
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I haven’t taught any this week yet.
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This is the first one!
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Does your language have anything like the
present perfect?
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Many languages don’t have a similar verb
form.
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This can make it more difficult to use the
present perfect correctly in English.
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In this lesson, you’ll learn how to use
the present perfect verb form in different
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ways.
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Let’s start with two basic but important
points.
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Try to keep these in mind as you watch!
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First, the present perfect connects the past
and the present.
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Secondly, think about the name, ‘present
perfect’.
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It’s a present verb form.
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It tells you something about now.
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Even though you often use the present perfect
to talk about things in the past, it’s still
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a present form; it gives you some information
about the present.
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Let’s start by looking at how to form the
present perfect tense.
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The present perfect is formed with have or
has plus a past participle.
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Have and has are often contracted.
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For example:
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I’ve finished everything.
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She’s just left.
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We’ve been here for hours.
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Past participles usually look the same as
the past tense.
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For example:
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finish – finished – finished
leave – left – left
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However, many common verbs are irregular.
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That means you need to know irregular verbs
to use the present perfect.
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There’s also a continuous form of the present
perfect, with been plus a verb with -ing.
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For example:
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I’ve been cleaning the house all morning.
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He’s been acting very strangely lately.
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However, in this lesson, we’re going to
focus on the simple verb form.
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Make negatives by adding not after have or
has.
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Again, this form is often contracted.
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For example:
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I haven’t seen anything like that before.
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He hasn’t helped at all.
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They haven’t given me much information.
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Make questions by moving have or has before
the subject:
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Have you booked the tickets yet?
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How long has your sister been a vet?
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How many people have you told about this?
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Next, let’s look at how to actually use
the present perfect, and what it means.
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Have you ever been to Argentina?
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No, I’ve never even been to South America,
but I’d love to go!
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Have you ever been skydiving?
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Yeah, actually.
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It was amazing!
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Have you tried kangaroo before?
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No, never.
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What’s it like?
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How many times have you seen this film?
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More than once.
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So, twice?
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Three times?
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Ok, ok, I’ve seen it eight times.
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Eight?
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You can use the present perfect to talk about
life experiences.
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You just heard different examples of this.
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Do you remember the questions we asked?
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This is common with questions like:
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Have you ever…?
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Have you … before?
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How many times have you…?
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For example:
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Have you ever seen a ghost?
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Have you met Amit before?
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How many times have you bought something and
never worn it?
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In all these questions, you don’t say when.
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You don’t use a time reference like ‘this
year’ or ‘recently’.
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That’s because all these questions are asking
about your whole life.
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You don’t say it, but the meaning is there.
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Try something now: pause the video and write
down three questions.
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Use your own ideas.
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Then, write your own answers!
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Pause the video and do it now.
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Now, let’s look at another way to use the
present perfect.
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Have you called about the Internet yet?
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I haven’t, I’m sorry.
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I’ve been so busy all day.
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You said you’d do it today!
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I haven’t been able to do any work since
Monday!
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I’ve tried to call several times this week,
but they always say that they can only talk
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to the account holder.
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That’s you!
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I know, I’m sorry.
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I just haven’t had time all week.
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So, what can I help you with?
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Well, I haven’t been feeling well recently.
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What are your symptoms?
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I’ve had a really bad cough for a couple
of weeks now.
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This week, I’ve started to feel really slow
and tired, and I haven’t had much appetite.
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Have you had any nausea?
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Headaches?
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No, not really.
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We’ll do some tests and see what we can
do.
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You can use the present perfect to talk about
a time period which is unfinished.
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Remember that the present perfect connects
the present and the past.
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For example, take today.
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Today is an unfinished time period.
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It’s started, but it hasn’t finished yet.
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You heard several other unfinished time periods
in the dialogues.
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Can you remember any?
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Here are some examples:
I’ve been so busy all day.
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I haven’t been able to do any work since
Monday!
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I haven’t been feeling well recently.
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This week, I’ve started to feel really slow
and tired.
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Other unfinished time periods include things
like this week, this month, this year, and
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so on.
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So, if you’re talking about an unfinished
time period, you can use the present perfect.
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To make this clearer, compare unfinished time
with finished time:
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I’ve been so busy all day.
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I was so busy yesterday.
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I haven’t been able to do any work since
Monday!
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I wasn’t able to do any work last week.
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I haven’t felt well recently.
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I didn’t feel well last weekend.
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I’ve had a really bad cough for a couple
of weeks now.
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I had a really bad cough last year.
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When you talk about a finished time period,
like last year or yesterday, you need to use
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the past simple.
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You can’t use the present perfect to talk
about finished time periods.
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Sometimes, you can choose to use the present
perfect or the past simple with an unfinished
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time period.
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For example:
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I’ve worked hard today.
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I worked hard today.
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These are both possible, but there’s a small
difference in meaning.
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Do you know what?
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The first sentence, with the present perfect,
suggests that today is not finished yet.
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Maybe you have more work to do!
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The second sentence, with the past simple,
suggests that today is finished.
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It’s the evening and you’re relaxing after
a long day!
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Let’s practice.
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Look at three incomplete sentences:
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I haven’t … today.
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I’ve … a lot this week.
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I haven’t … enough recently.
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Can you complete the sentences to make them
true about you?
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For example, you could say something like:
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I haven’t eaten any fruit today.
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I haven’t watched TV today.
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I haven’t had a shower today.
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Pause the video and write down three sentences.
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Ok?
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How was that?
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Let’s look at one more way to use the present
perfect tense.
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How long have you lived here?
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For about a year.
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Have you two known each other long?
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Yeah, since we were at primary school!
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How long have they been married?
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I’m not sure.
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I think for a couple of years?
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Maybe not even that long.
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Nice jacket!
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Is it new?
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This? No, I’ve had it for years!
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You can use the present perfect to talk about
something which started in the past and is
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still true now.
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For example:
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How long have you lived here?
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This means that you still live here now.
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Have you two known each other long?
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You still know each other now.
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How long have they been married?
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They’re still married now.
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I’ve had this jacket for years.
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I still have it now.
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Be careful: there’s a common mistake which
English learners make here.
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It looks like this:
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I’ve bought this jacket for three years.
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Can you explain why this is wrong?
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It’s wrong because the action of buying
the jacket is finished, and in the past.
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You could say:
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I bought this jacket three years ago.
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The action of having the jacket is not finished.
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It started in the past, when you bought it,
and it’s still true now, because you still
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have the jacket now.
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Again, it’s useful to compare the present
perfect and the past simple:
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I’ve lived here for about a year.
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I still live here now.
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I lived there for about a year.
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I don’t live there now.
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How long have they been married?
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They’re still married now.
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How long were they married?
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They’re not married now.
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Okay, your turn to practice!
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Look at three incomplete sentences:
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I’ve had … for …
I’ve lived in … since …
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I’ve been …
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Your job is to complete these sentences so
that they’re true for you.
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Pause the video, think about what you could
say, and write down three sentences.
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If you aren’t sure, review this section
and use the examples you’ve seen to help
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you.
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How was that?
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00:11:12,769 --> 00:11:14,170
Hopefully easy!
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Let’s look at one more way you can use the
present perfect tense.
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What’s wrong with you?
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Eurrgh.
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00:11:23,660 --> 00:11:27,400
I’ve eaten too many cakes and now I feel
terrible.
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00:11:27,410 --> 00:11:28,630
How many did you have?
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00:11:28,630 --> 00:11:31,300
I had six or seven.
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00:11:31,300 --> 00:11:32,540
That was smart.
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00:11:32,540 --> 00:11:36,080
But they were so tasty…
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00:11:36,080 --> 00:11:37,080
Have you lost something?
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00:11:37,080 --> 00:11:38,170
Yeah, I’ve lost my phone.
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00:11:38,170 --> 00:11:41,220
I put it down somewhere and now I can’t
find it.
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00:11:41,220 --> 00:11:42,740
When did you last use it?
220
00:11:42,740 --> 00:11:43,740
I don’t know.
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I had it last night, for sure.
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Can you call me?
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Oh no!
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The cat’s been sick on the couch!
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Again?
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00:11:51,220 --> 00:11:54,100
That’s the third time this week.
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Can you clean it up?
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00:11:55,270 --> 00:11:57,550
I cleaned it last time!
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00:11:57,550 --> 00:12:03,230
You can use the present perfect to talk about
things in the past if there’s still a result
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in the present.
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For example:
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I’ve eaten too many cakes and now I feel
terrible.
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00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:17,510
I ate the cakes in the past, but the result—feeling
terrible—is still true now.
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00:12:17,510 --> 00:12:20,480
I’ve lost my phone.
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00:12:20,480 --> 00:12:26,260
I lost my phone sometime in the past, but
the result—I can’t find my phone—is
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still true now.
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00:12:28,200 --> 00:12:31,190
The cat’s been sick on the couch!
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The cat was sick on the couch in the past,
but the result—the sofa needs cleaning—is
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still true now.
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00:12:38,310 --> 00:12:43,590
You can also see something useful in these
dialogues: often, you start a conversation
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using the present perfect, and then switch
to the past simple.
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00:12:48,850 --> 00:12:53,120
For example:
I’ve eaten too many cakes.
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00:12:53,120 --> 00:12:54,710
How many did you have?
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00:12:54,710 --> 00:12:57,330
I’ve lost my phone.
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00:12:57,330 --> 00:12:59,440
When did you last use it?
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This is a very common pattern in English conversations.
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Again, let’s compare the present perfect
to the past simple:
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00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:11,340
I’ve lost my phone.
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00:13:11,340 --> 00:13:14,370
I can’t find it now.
250
00:13:14,370 --> 00:13:16,570
I lost my phone.
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00:13:16,570 --> 00:13:21,269
Maybe I found it again, or maybe I gave
up and had to get a new phone.
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00:13:21,269 --> 00:13:27,200
This sentence only tells you about the past,
so you can’t be sure what happened.
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00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:29,670
The cat’s been sick on the couch!
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00:13:29,670 --> 00:13:33,269
The couch needs cleaning, and maybe the
cat needs to go to the vet.
255
00:13:33,269 --> 00:13:35,790
The cat was sick on the couch.
256
00:13:35,790 --> 00:13:38,780
It’s safe to sit on the couch again.
257
00:13:38,780 --> 00:13:45,040
Now, you know the most common ways to use
the present perfect tense in English.
258
00:13:45,040 --> 00:13:51,920
We have a question for you: can you name all
the other verb tenses in English?
259
00:13:51,920 --> 00:13:55,270
Which one do you find the most difficult to
understand?
260
00:13:55,270 --> 00:13:56,990
Let us know in the comments.
261
00:13:56,990 --> 00:13:59,550
Want more practice with this topic?
262
00:13:59,550 --> 00:14:03,480
Check out the quiz on our website: Oxford
Online English dot com.
263
00:14:03,480 --> 00:14:06,750
There’s a link below the video if you’re
watching on YouTube.
264
00:14:06,750 --> 00:14:08,320
Thanks for watching!
265
00:14:08,320 --> 00:14:09,209
See you next time!19786
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