Present Perfect Tense works as a bridge between the Present and the Past times.
It is important to understand that the Present Perfect Tense does not really talk about the present time. Present Perfect Tense is used to talk about past events which have their impact on present activities / situations.
Here, we refer to something that has just happened. As such, Present Perfect Tense talks about things that have taken place just now.
Let’s take a look at the Present Perfect Verb.
Past Participle form of the main verb (V3) – If the main verb is “go”, the past participle form of “go” is “gone”
Similarly:-
Accordingly, the verb is formed as follows:-
| Singular | Plural |
| has done | have done |
| has gone | Have gone |
| has walked | have walked |
| has washed | have washed |
| has met | have met |
| has run | have run |
| has written | have written |
Let’s write few sentences using the above verbs.
Did you notice that “has” is used with Singular subjects and “have” is used with plural subjects?
Let’s analyze the pattern with the following example.
| Subject | Verb | Positive Sentence | |
| Singular | I | have met | I have met him before. |
| He | has met | He has met him before. | |
| She | has met | She has met him before. | |
| Kamal | has met | Kamal has met him before. | |
| Plural | We | have met | We have met him before. |
| You | have met | You have met him before. | |
| They | have met | They have met him before. | |
| Children | have met | Children have met him before. |
Let’s try with a regular verb - work
| Subject | Verb | Positive Sentence | |
| Singular | I | have worked | I have worked hard. |
| He | has worked | He has worked hard. | |
| She | has worked | She has worked hard. | |
| Kamal | has worked | Kamal has worked hard. | |
| Plural | We | have worked | We have worked hard. |
| You | have worked | You have worked hard. | |
| They | have worked | They have worked hard. | |
| Children | have worked | Children have worked hard. | |
You have to add “not”
| Subject | Verb | Negative Sentence | |
| Singular | I | Have not worked | I have not worked hard. I haven’t worked hard. |
| He | Has not worked | He has not worked hard. He hasn’t worked hard. |
|
| She | has not worked | She has not worked hard. She hasn’t worked hard. |
|
| Kamal | has not worked | Kamal has not worked hard. Kamal hasn’t worked hard. |
|
| Plural | We | Have not worked | We have not worked hard. We haven’t worked hard. |
| You | have not worked |
You have not worked hard. You haven’t worked hard. |
|
| They | have not worked | They have not worked hard. They haven’t worked hard. |
|
| Children | have not worked | Children have not worked hard. Children haven’t worked hard. |
|
| Subject | Verb | Yes/ No Questions | |
| Singular | I | have not worked | Have I worked hard? Have I not worked hard? |
| He | has not worked | Has he worked hard? Has he not worked hard? |
|
| She | has not worked | Has she worked hard? Has she not worked hard? |
|
| Kamal | has not worked | Has Kamal worked hard? Has Kamal not worked hard? |
|
| Plural | We | have not worked | Have we worked hard? Have we not worked hard? |
| You | have not worked | Have you worked hard? Have you not worked hard? |
|
| They | have not worked | Have they worked hard? Have they not worked hard? |
|
| Children | have not worked | Have children worked hard? Have children not worked hard? |
Present Perfect Tense expresses the following ideas.
We usually use the Simple Past Tense to talk about finished activities.
Suppose, this is the month of August and you visited your grandmother 3 times within the last 8 months. Since the year has not yet come to an end, you can still visit her many more times. Therefore, you can say:-
In the second sentence, you have used Present Perfect Tense since the action is not yet complete.
If you specify the time you had your dinner, you may use Simple Present tense instead of Present Perfect Tense as follows.
(You are walking at the time of speaking)
Suppose, the bus broke down yesterday and you are no longer in trouble as a result of it, you may not use Present Perfect Tense. You can use Simple Past Tense instead.
The bus broke down yesterday.
(Here, we have used Present Perfect tense since there is a possibility for the poet to write many more in her life time.)
(In this case, the poet is dead and there the poet cannot write any more)
This poet wrote many poems for children.
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