We make the Present Perfect (Simple) tense with have or has and a past participle (e.g. worked, been):
I/you/we/they | have/’ve | worked. |
He/she/it | has/’s |
I/you/we/they | have not/haven’t | worked. |
He/she/it | has not/hasn’t |
Have | I/you/we/they | worked? |
Has | he/she/it |
Yes, | I/you/we/they | have. |
he/she/it | has. |
No, | I/you/we/they | have not/haven’t. |
he/she/it | has not/hasn’t. |
With regular verbs, we add –ed to form the past participle (e.g. worked, talked), but there are many verbs with irregular past participles (e.g. seen, sung, taken, bought):
INFINITIVE | PAST SIMPLE | PAST PARTICIPLE | |
With most verbs we add -ed: | happen | happened | happened |
We verbs ending with -e, we add -d: | live | lived | lived |
We verbs that end with a consonant + -y, we change the -y to -ied: | try study |
tried studied |
tried studied |
With verbs that end with one vowel + one consonant, we double the consonant: | stop grab |
stopped grabbed |
stopped grabbed |
We do not double the consonant,
|
enjoy allow discover listen |
enjoyed allowed discovered listened |
enjoyed allowed discovered listened |
But note also that we double the l at the end of verbs when the syllable is not stressed (e.g. TRAvel): | cancel travel |
cancelled travelled |
cancelled travelled |
INFINITIVE | PAST SIMPLE | PAST PARTICIPLE |
be | was/were | been |
beat | beat | beaten |
become | became | become |
begin | began | begun |
break | broke | broken |
bring | brought | brought |
build | built | built |
burn | burnt | burnt |
buy | bought | bought |
catch | caught | caught |
choose | chose | chosen |
come | came | come |
cost | cost | cost |
cut | cut | cut |
do | did | done |
draw | drew | drawn |
drink | drank | drunk |
drive | drove | driven |
eat | ate | eaten |
fall | fell | fallen |
feel | felt | felt |
find | found | found |
fly | flew | flown |
forget | forgot | forgotten |
forbid | forbade | forbidden |
get | got | got |
give | gave | given |
go | went | gone/been |
grow | grew | grown |
have | had | had |
hear | heard | heard |
hide | hid | hidden |
hit | hit | hit |
hold | held | held |
hurt | hurt | hurt |
keep | kept | kept |
know | knew | known |
learn | learnt/learned | learnt/learned |
leave | left | left |
lend | lent | lent |
let | let | let |
lose | lost | lost |
make | made | made |
meet | met | met |
pay | paid | paid |
put | put | put |
read | read | read |
ring | rang | rung |
run | ran | run |
say | said | said |
see | saw | seen |
sell | sold | sold |
send | sent | sent |
show | showed | shown/showed |
shut | shut | shut |
sing | sang | sung |
sit | sat | sat |
sleep | slept | slept |
speak | spoke | spoken |
spend | spent | spent |
stand | stood | stood |
steal | stole | stolen |
sweep | swept | swept |
swim | swam | swum |
take | took | taken |
teach | taught | taught |
tell | told | told |
think | thought | thought |
throw | threw | thrown |
understand | understood | understood |
wake | woke | woken |
wear | wore | worn |
win | won | won |
write | wrote | written |
We use the Present Perfect to talk about events in past time, but not about when they happened:
- Somebody has taken my coat. (NOT Somebody has taken my coat yesterday.)
- I have listened to her latest album.
We use the Present Perfect in this way when the past event is relevant now:
- Somebody has taken my coat. I can’t find it. (= I don’t know where it is now)
- I’ve been to the dentist. My tooth doesn’t hurt now.
We use the Present Perfect to talk about situations or actions during a period that started in the past, and has continued up to the present (e.g. today, this month, this year, for three weeks, since last year):
- I’ve worked here for five years. (= from five years ago until now)
- I’ve lived in Nottingham since 1992. (= from 1992 until now)
- I’ve watched the news three times this week.
- We haven’t had a holiday this year.
- Have you seen Peter (today)?
We very often use the Present Perfect with ever, never, already, just, and yet, like this:
- Have you ever been to Thailand? ∼ No, I’ve never been to Thailand.
- Chris has already done his homework.
- Chris has just done his homework.
- Chris hasn’t done his homework yet.
Note that we put ever, never, already, and just before the past participle, and yet at the end of the sentence.
PRACTICE
Now it is time to practise what you have learned.
- For each Practice Test, read the instructions carefully.
- Complete the exercise and press 'Check' to get your results.
Add your first comment to this post