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This page: Learn how to form the present perfect tense in English and how to use the words "for" and "since".

bank
She has worked in the bank for two years.

Present Perfect in English
Grammar

Present Perfect in English
Affirmative/Negative	Question
He has walked. (He's walked.) She It He has not walked. (He hasn't walked.) She It	Has he walked? she it Short Answers - Yes, he has. - No, he hasn't.
They have walked. (They've walked.) I You We They have not walked. (They haven't walked.) I You We	Have they walked? I you we Short Answers - Yes, they have. - No, they haven't.

(Negative in red text)
(Contractions in parentheses)

The present perfect is used to describe an action that began in the past and continues into the present. It is formed with the verb "have" plus the past participle of the verb ("lived" in the example below).

I have lived in California for one year.

It can also be used to describe an action that happened at an unspecified time in the past.

I have visited China.

In the example above, I didn't specify when it happened. If I were to specify when it happened, I would have to put the verb in the past tense like in the sentence below.

I visited China last year.

Note: The verb "have" can only be contracted in the present perfect tense. The verb "have" cannot be contracted when it means "to possess" or "to own."

I've visited China.
I have a computer.
I've a computer. (incorrect)

Past Participles

The past participle of the verb is used with the present perfect tense. The past participle is generally formed by adding the letters -ed to the end of the verb (the same way we form the simple past). However, there are many irregular past participle forms. Sometimes they are the same as the simple past form, and sometimes they are different. The following table contains a list of some irregular past participle forms and their corresponding simple past forms for review. We will study irregular past participle forms in more detail in the upcoming Advanced Level lessons.

Verb	Past	Participle
be	was/were	been
see	saw	seen
go	went	gone
meet	met	met
give	gave	given
buy	bought	bought
come	came	come
drink	drank	drunk
eat	ate	eaten
do	did	done

pdf list of irregular verbs

Exercise - Sentences with irregular verbs

Use your imagination to write sentences in the blanks using irregular verbs. (Since there are so many possible answers, this exercise cannot be corrected.)

Example:
go: went - gone
Past

Participle

be: was/were - been
Past

Participle

see: saw - seen
Past

Participle

go: went - gone
Past

Participle

meet: met - met
Past

Participle

give: gave - given
Past

Participle

buy: bought - bought
Past

Participle

come: came - come
Past

Participle

drink: drank - drunk
Past

Participle

eat: ate - eaten
Past

Participle

do: did - done
Past

Participle

Exercise - Irregular verbs

Fill in the table with the irregular verbs and then click the CHECK button. (If you type a space after the word, the computer will interpret it as an error when checking.)

Verb	Past	Participle
see
go
meet
give
buy
come
drink
eat
do

Exercise - Sentences in the present perfect tense

Write a sentence in the present perfect using the information given. Add "have" or "has" and change the verb to the past participle. If the verb is not in the list of irregular verbs in the table above, it is regular (add -ed to form the past participle, just like when forming the past tense). In the second space, write the same sentence but with a contraction. Sentences with "not" should be negative (see the example below). Make sure you have used the correct capitalization and included a period at the end.

examples

He - walk in the park

Contraction

They - not go to France

Contraction

1. She - work here for two years

2. I - finish my homework

3. They - meet many famous people

4. My parents - not see the movie

5. John - buy a new car

6. He - not eat dinner

7. Laura - not go to China

8. We - finish our work

9. The students - not go to school

10. You - not buy a new car

Exercise - Present perfect questions

Write these sentences in interrogative form (question form).

example
He has studied in Japan.

for/since

The word "for" is used with periods of time.

I've lived here for two years.
She's worked at that company for seven months.
They've been here for 10 minutes.

The word "since" is used with the specific time when an activity began.

I've lived here since 1998.
She's worked at that company since she moved to California.
They've been here since 8:30.

Exercise - for/since

Select "for" or "since" in each sentence.

Find the Mistake

Instructions
Identify the error in the following sentences and write the corrected version.

example
He are a teacher. → He is a teacher.

Writing

Write five sentences in the present perfect tense.

examples:
I have worked at this bank for three years.
I haven't finished my homework.

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