The present perfect is a verb tense which is used to show that an action has taken place once or many times before now. The present perfect is most frequently used to talk about experiences or changes that have taken place, but there are other less common uses as well. Read on for detailed descriptions, examples, and present perfect exercises. The present perfect tense describes an action that has taken place or a condition that has come to pass by the time of speaking. Other conditions will be described below. To form the present perfect tense, use has/have + past participle of the verb . For example: I have gone to the gym three times this month. We only use had 🙂. Infographic of the verb to have in the past perfect. To form the Past Perfect we use the third form of the main verb. For regular verbs, the third form is the same as the past form (the second form). Thus, we form the third form of regular verbs by adding the -ed ending. base form. verb + ed. We use the Past Simple tense when: the event is in the past. the event is completely finished. we say (or understand) the time and/or place of the event. In general, if we say the past time or place of the event, we must use the Past Simple tense; we cannot use the present perfect. Here are some more examples: The past simple tense is used to refer to definite time, while the present perfect tense refers to indefinite time. The past simple tense indicates series of finished actions or repeated actions; the present perfect tense expresses experience or result. She has already watched this movie 3 times. (present perfect) Students speak a language in which tense usage is much more 'loose' such as Japanese. This lesson focuses on the switch by first narrowing the choices down to either the present perfect or the past simple. It asks students to first ask questions about general experience with 'ever' and then drill down to the specifics with question words such The past perfect tense is a verb form used to refer to a past action that occurred before another past action. The past perfect is formed using “had” along with the past participle of the main verb (e.g., “I had run”). All verbs in the past perfect tense take this form regardless of the subject (e.g., “she had known,” ”we had In general, simple past refers to a specific time in the past, whereas present perfect is an unspecified time. In addition, the meaning of the sentences changes when more specific information (e.g. dates, times) is provided. See the examples in the chart below. They completed the game. They have completed the game. Example: We stayed in a hotel. Past continuous tense: This type of past tense is used to describe an event or occurrence that is ongoing or continuing in the past. Example: We were playing tennis at the club. Past Perfect Tense : This type of tense is used to describe an event in the past that has been completed. The present perfect is a verb tense English speakers use to indicate a link between the present and the past. In other words, when past actions or events are related to or continue into the present moment, we use the present perfect tense. In general, we form the present perfect with the following positive structure: Subject + have/has + past AXAIn.