Present Perfect Tense

Haven’t you ever wondered what the present perfect tense is for? Well, it’s for sentences like the previous one. “Have + not + you” is a classic example of the present perfect tense, which you can use to communicate a host of interesting, active relationships. To communicate such relationships, though, you'll need to know the conjugations, the rules, and follow along with some examples.

Present Perfect Tense Definition

You probably couldn’t guess the definition of “present perfect tense” using its name alone.

The present perfect tense is a versatile tool among verb conjugations. The highlighted portion of the following example is the verb “to be” conjugated in the present perfect tense.

This use of the present perfect tense denotes that the play is still going on and has been a disaster to this point.

Before getting into the rules for the present perfect tense and further explaining its name and nuances, perhaps it’s a good idea to take a step back and place the present perfect tense into the broader context of verb conjugation.

Present Perfect Tense Conjugation

The present perfect tense is a verb conjugation.

For example, take the verb “to explain.” Any of the following are ways to conjugate it:

You conjugate a verb to make subtle distinctions about when that verb occurred. You place it relative to other verbs and nouns both within a sentence and in the broader context of the discussion or even the world.

Here’s the same list of verb conjugations for “explain” again, only now listed are the names of the conjugations.

This last one is the one that most concerns us: the present perfect tense.

Present Perfect Tense Rules

The rules of the present perfect tense might look odd to you at the outset for one major reason: they have you put the main verb in the past tense. The main verb is in pink.

So why is this called the “present” perfect, then? Interestingly, the defining aspect of the present perfect is not the past participle. The past participle, which is one way you put a verb in the past tense, is used in the present perfect tense, the past perfect tense, and the future perfect tense. What changes is the auxiliary verb “have.”

You can see they all use “worked” but also different auxiliary forms of “to have.”

• The present tense uses “to have” in the present tense (have).
• The past perfect uses “to have” in the past tense (had).
• The future perfect uses “to have” in the future tense (will have).

This is how you tell the three tenses apart.

Fig. 1 - The present perfect tense tells a relationship between the past and present.

The present perfect doesn’t always use “have,” though. It also uses “has,” depending on the subject. This is how you conjugate “to work” in the present perfect tense based on the subject.

You’ll notice that only one is different, which is the third-person singular. Although it’s just one conjugation, it’s an extremely common one. Here are some examples.

If you observe something, the noun will take “has” in the present perfect, while all other subjects will take “have.”

With this basic knowledge under your belt, now’s a good time to expand the formula and look at a few more formulas, including what to do in negative constructions and how to use the adverb “just.”

Present Perfect Tense Formula

There are four formulas to create the present perfect tense: the affirmative, the affirmative interrogative, the negative, and the negative interrogative.

You can also introduce objects into any of these.

Here’s how.

That said, some verbs are irregular, and their simple past tense is not the same as their past participle. Here are some examples.

As a rule of thumb, if a verb has an irregular past tense, there’s a good chance it has a different and also irregular past participle. Always use the past participle for creating the present perfect tense!

This covers most of the theoretical concepts surrounding the past perfect tense. The next step is to apply these formulas and this theory to real-world sentences and concepts.

Present Perfect Tense Examples

You can use the present perfect in many types of sentences, so here is an explanation with examples. First, you might recall the definition of the present perfect tense:

Here’s how you apply the present perfect tense in these situations, plus an explanation of these situations in added detail.

Present Perfect for Continuous Actions

If something began sometime in the past and persists now, you use the present perfect. Here are some examples.

You also use the past perfect to describe something that has continuously not been the case.

These conjugations are useful to describe the current state of something. They also leave room for change. For instance, “they haven’t seen the movie” doesn’t mean they won’t ever see the movie or that the opportunity has passed. Compare that sentence to the simple past:

Present Perfect for Recent Actions

The present perfect tense is useful to place a recent past event very close to the present. To describe this, you would add the adverb “just” to the construction. Here are some examples.

This is helpful when you want to specify proximity or explain precisely when something occurred.

Present Perfect for Actions at Some Point

The final way to use the present perfect tense is to describe an action that happened in the past at some non-specific point. Here are some examples.

This use of the present perfect is ideal if you aren’t sure when something happened; you only know it did (or are asking if it did). Naturally, you can also use the present perfect to say that something didn’t happen at any point prior (or ask if never happened at any point prior).

This covers the present perfect and all of its common uses. Good luck with your investigation of tenses and conjugations!