Language: grammar and vocabulary
The present perfect
Build the present perfect with have or has and a past participle, and tell it apart from the simple past.
The simple past shuts the door on an action: I finished my homework. The present perfect leaves it open a crack — the action is over, but it still counts for something now: I have finished my homework, so I am free to play.
How it is built
Have or has, then the past participle: I have finished. She has finished. Two parts, and neither of them can be left out.
Have or has?
Has goes with he, she, it and any one person or thing — the postman has, the kettle has. Have goes with I, we, you, they and any group — the neighbours have.
The past participle is not always -ed
Regular verbs are easy: played, finished, washed. The common verbs are not: go becomes gone, sing becomes sung, know becomes known, speak becomes spoken, grow becomes grown. These are worth learning as a list.
A finished time pushes you back to the simple past
"I have posted the letter" says nothing about when, and that is the point. Add a finished time — on Monday, last year, in May — and the sentence has to become "I posted the letter on Monday". A time that is still running — today, this week, so far — stays with the present perfect: "She has worked hard today."
Worked example
Fill the gap: "The gardener ____ (plant) forty trees."
The subject is "the gardener" — one person, so the helping verb is has.
Has for one, have for more than one.
Try it together
Let us build the present perfect three times.
Each answer is two words — the helping verb and the past participle.
1.The verb is "finish" and the person is I: I ____ my homework. Write the two words.
Have a go
Which sentence is correct?
Ready to practise?
Eight questions on what you have just read. Nothing is timed, and you can play as many times as you like.