Present perfect tense in English. Use of the present perfect tense. Rules for constructing a question

Today in our article we will look at how to use the verb tense in the present perfect, the rules for forming this grammatical form, examples of use and much more. It must be said that this is one of the most difficult tenses used in English language. denotes someone’s action that took place (began) in the past, but at the same time is related to the present moment in time. That is, you can observe the result of this action in the present.

Present perfect: formation rules

The present perfect is formed as follows:

I/we/you/she/he/it + have or has + past participle

Means in the past tense). For so-called “regular” verbs (as we remember, the majority of them) can be obtained by adding the ending “-ed” at the very end of the word. This method is not suitable for “irregular” verbs; their past form must be learned by heart. Note that the helping verbs have and has are usually shortened to 've and 's, see:

In case of negation, you should use have not or has not, briefly we get haven’t/hasn’t.

Present Perfect: used correctly

Beginning students often find it difficult to understand when to use the Present Perfect tense, since it is often confused, for example, with Past Simple. Read this section carefully, here we will look in great detail at the Present Perfect tense and the rules for its use:

• Present Perfect is used when we're talking about about actions that began in the past, but, nevertheless, they continue to this day. The words “for” and “since” are often found in such sentences:

This old beautiful building has stood on this square for three hundred fifty years - This is old beautiful building stood (and, in fact, continues to stand) on this square for 350 years.

I'm starving. I haven’t eaten since lunch - I’m incredibly hungry. I haven't eaten anything since lunch.

Maria has been to London once, but she would like to travel there again - Maria has already been to London once, but she would like to visit there again.

• The present past tense is used with these phrases: this year/day/week/month, recently, ever, yet. It can be seen that the time period is not defined, but it is closely related to the present. Eg:

Have they heard from John recently? -Have they heard anything about Mark lately?

I’ve been in a lot of places last few weeks - Over the past few weeks, I’ve been to a lot of places.

I’ve had five cups of green tea today - I’ve already drunk 5 cups of green tea today

• As for the Present Perfect tense: the rules for its use also apply to those situations when we can already see the result of some action. For example:

The earthquake has destroyed the industry in the whole region - The earthquake destroyed the industry of the whole region (as a result, the region still has problems with industrial production).

Present Perfect is the short and most common name for the tense, the rules of use of which we have just examined. We hope that our article helped you understand this difficult grammatical topic. And remember - everything is learned in practice, that is, the more exercises you do to consolidate the use of the present perfect tense, the fewer mistakes you will make in the future. Note also that the Present Perfect is a rather simple tense to use compared, for example, with the rules of which imply both the formation of a complex construction (have or has been + Verb-ing) and use in cases when the action began in the past, but at the same time it has not ended yet and, moreover, continues to this day. One way or another, only practice will help you master the English language at a sufficient level to speak and write clearly and competently.

Present Perfect- present perfect tense of English. This tense is used to denote events that have completed to date or have completed during the present time period. See below the rules for forming the Present Perfect, a list of auxiliary words and examples of using the present perfect tense in English.

Education Present Perfect

In the affirmative Present sentences Perfect is formed using the auxiliary word have (1st and 2nd person) or has (3rd person singular) and adding -ed endings to the verb. If the verb is irregular, then the 3rd form is used - Past Participle.

Education Formula:

Noun + have / has + verb ending in -ed or 3rd form

Noun and auxiliary verb have can merge and form I’ve, they’ve, etc. Examples of affirmative sentences in the Present Perfect:

He has just finished playing football. — He just finished playing football.

They’ve started doing their homework already. — They have already started doing their homework.

To form a negative sentence in the Present Perfect, after the auxiliary verb, you must add the particle not. rule:

Noun + have / has + not + verb ending in -ed or 3rd form

An auxiliary verb can be combined with the not part to form have not or has not. Examples of negative sentences:

I have not seen you for years! - I haven't seen you for a long time!

She has not made her work yet. “She hasn't done her job yet.”

To form an interrogative sentence in the Present Perfect auxiliary proposals must be made in advance. rule:

Have / Has + noun + verb ending in -ed or 3rd form

Examples of interrogative sentences:

Has there ever been a war in the United States? — Was there ever a war in the United States?

Have you ever met him? -Have you ever met him?

Auxiliary words Present Perfect

When forming sentences in the Present Perfect, auxiliary words are often used. These present perfect marker words are given below:

Cases in which the Present Perfect is used

Below are various examples of using the Present Perfect tense that you may find useful.
I use case: Indefinite time before the present moment

Unspecified Time Before Now

The Present Perfect is usually used to describe something that happened relatively recently and at an inopportune time. The use of the following words such as yesterday, one year ago, last week, at that moment, that day, one day and others in the Present Perfect is prohibited, since when using this tense the emphasis is placed on the experience, and not on the time when the event occurred. In this case, the use of auxiliary words is used (see table above). examples:

I have been to France. — I was in France.

I think I have met him once before. “I think I met him once.”

Nobody has ever climbed that mountain. - No one has ever climbed this mountain.

You have grown since the last time I saw you. “You’ve grown up since I last saw you.”

James has not finished his homework yet. — Jace hasn't finished his homework yet.

Have you been to Mexico in the last year? - Have you been to Mexico? Last year? ('In the last year' (as opposed to 'last year') means 'in the last 365 days', so it is indefinite time, requiring the use of the Present Perfect)

I have seen that movie six times in the last month. — I saw this film six times last month. (The time is indicated here, but the emphasis is on how many times a person has seen this film.)

Use case II: the action takes place to this day

Duration From the Past Until Now (Non-Continuous Verbs)

The Present Perfect is also used with verbs that are not continuous (Non-Continuous Verbs) or with mixed verbs (Mixed Verbs). IN in this case The present perfect tense describes an action that began in the past and is still ongoing. In this case, it is typical to use phrases like for five minutes, for two weeks, since Monday and others. examples:

I have had a cold for two weeks. — I’ve had a cold for two weeks now.

She has been in England for six months. — She has been in England for 6 months.

Mary has loved chocolate since she was a little girl. — Mary loves chocolate since childhood.

There are tenses in English that are not in Russian. They are the main “culprits” of grammatical difficulties. These include the Present Perfect - the Present Perfect tense.

Education

Before turning to the question of when to use Present Perfect Simple, it is appropriate to briefly consider the meaning and “structure” of this time. It is translated into Russian as the Present Perfect tense. Its main function is to describe events that occurred in the past, but have been completed by now and their result affects the present day.

The Present Perfect tense is formed using two verbs. The first is the auxiliary verb have, which is “valid” only for I (I), you (you, you), we (we), they (they) or has - for he (he), she (she), it (it ).

The second is the main verb in the 3rd form. In English the 3rd form regular verbs is created by adding the ending -ed to the word stem (to wish - wished, to blame - blamed, to clean - cleaned). Irregular verbs do not “require” rules. The third form can always be found, respectively, in the third column in the table of irregular verbs.

The Present Perfect tense can be used instead of the Present Perfect Continuous to describe events that began in the recent past and continued until the present minute. This happens when the main verb belongs to the verbs of the state (to respect - to respect, to adore - adore), which are not used in the Continuous aspect.

Table: Present Perfect formation with regular and irregular verbs

Cases of using the Present Perfect

As can be seen from the table, the Present Perfect tense is translated into Russian using verbs in the past tense. The same thing happens with the translation of sentences used in the Past Simple (Simple Past) and Past Perfect(Past Perfect): we translate them again with verbs in the past tense. At first glance, there is no logic. But it is there. It can only be explained by the rules for using the Present Perfect:

• To describe events that happened not so long ago and have ended by now. In this case, the exact period of what happened is not determined, it is blurred, since it has no meaning. The point is different - in the end.

Have you ever watched The Lord of the Rings? - Have you ever watched “The Lord of the Rings”? (It doesn’t matter when the event happened, the main thing is whether you watched this film or not)

• For a description that has ended, but the time period in which the event occurred has not ended(this year (this year), this week (this week), today (today), ever (ever) and others):

This week I have not visited my grandmother - This week I did not visit my grandmother (A week is a period of time that has not yet ended).

• To express an action that was performed in the recent past, but its result is important for the present moment:

I have lost my key. I cannot open the door. - I lost my keys. I can not open the door. (The action happened in the past, but the result of losing the keys affects the present).

• To describe repeated actions:

He has cleaned this room twice today - He cleaned the room twice today.

Present Perfect time markers (already - already, ever, never, just - only and others) are the best helpers when choosing a grammatical structure.

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In all the variety of tenses in the English language, Perfect tenses (perfect or complete) are notable for the fact that you will not find their analogues in Russian grammar. Perhaps for this reason, many people have difficulty mastering perfect tenses. Let's learn to understand and use these useful and interesting English Times verbs.

Strictly speaking, in English there are only two tenses (tense), where only the semantic verb is present: present (We walk) And past (He left).
All other tenses of verbs in English, and there are about thirty of them, use auxiliary verbs.

There are six main tenses, which, once understood, will help you understand the entire temporal structure of English verbs.

• Present Simple (Present Indefinite): We play. - We play.
• Present Perfect: We have played. - We played.
• Past Simple (Past Indefinite): We played. - We played.
• Past Perfect: We had played. - We played (before a certain event in the past).
• Future Simple (Future Indefinite): We will play. - We will play.
• Future Perfect: We will have played. - We'll play (until a certain event in the future).

Students of English as a foreign language most often experience problems with perfect tenses. This is due to the fact that they are formed a little more complex than their “simple” counterparts: with the help of an auxiliary verb and the past participle ( III forms verb).

• Run (run)- run - run
• Play (play)- played - played

Auxiliary verbs are usually forms of the verbs be, can, do, may, must, ought, shall, will, have, has, had. It is these verbs and their forms that should be given attention.

Present Perfect Tense (present perfect tense)

Tom will repair his car on Monday. (Future Simple) - Tom will be repairing his car on Monday.

She hopes that Tom will have repaired his car by Monday evening. (Future Perfect) - She hopes Tom will have his car repaired by Monday evening.

It's Present's turn Perfect Tense– Present perfect tense.

Formation of the Present Perfect Tense

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Pay attention to the formula for the formation of R.R.T. indicated in the table. As you can see, the Present Perfect Tense is formed with the help of a verb and a past participle, and the participle is a fixed, unchanging part of the formula, and the verb have changes depending on the person and number of the subject and acts as an auxiliary verb in a given tense.

During education interrogative form The auxiliary verb have (has) is placed before the subject. When translating interrogative sentences, follow the established word order of the interrogative sentence: 1 – question word (for example, who? when? what?), 2 – auxiliary verb (have or has), 3 – subject, 4 – predicate (in this case, participle)

• Have you ordered pizza? -Have you ordered pizza? ( question word no, that's why the question starts with have)
• Where has he put my glasses? – where did he put my glasses?

A question to the subject begins with the word Who?

• Who has painted this picture? – who painted this picture?

When is Present Perfect Tense used?

The present perfect tense, although it belongs to the group of present tenses, denotes an action that has already happened and has completed by now. This time is used when oneself is important fact of action.

• I have already bought bread - the action has already taken place, it does not matter when it happened - I have bought some bread

The action expressed by the Present Perfect is translated into Russian perfect past tense verb (What did you do?)

The time of the action is either not indicated at all, or covers a period of time that has not yet expired (that is, the period has not yet ended, but the action has already occurred ): Today ( today), this morning, afternoon or evening ( this morning/ afternoon/ evening), this week ( this week), this month ( this month), this year ( this year)

• Peter has washed his car today - Peter washed the car today (still today, but the car has already been washed)
• I have met her twice this week - This week I met her twice (the week is still going on, and I have already met her twice)

Often adverbs are used with the Present Perfect:

• I have already finished reading this newspaper.- I have already finished reading the newspaper
• Have you posted the letter yet? —Have you already sent the letter?

• The adverb already in questions conveys surprise and means not “already”, but “really... already.” Compare:
  Has your brother arrived yet? “Has your brother arrived yet?” And
  Has your brother arrived already? “Has your brother already arrived?”
• Please note that the adverb yet always comes at the end of the sentence.

The verb to be is used in the present perfect tense to mean “to visit, go, visit” and is accompanied by the preposition of direction to:

• Have you ever been to London? -Have you ever traveled to London?
• I have been to Japan twice - I visited Japan twice

For and Since

Verbs in the Present Perfect Tense can also denote actions that began long before the moment of speech, but have not yet ended. In this case, verbs are used with such tense adverbs as for - during and since - since (since)

In this case, the verb is translated into Russian in the present tense:

• • She has known my brother for five years - She has known my brother for five years
  • I’ve known her sister since 1992 - I’ve known her sister since 1992

Present Perfect or Past Simple?

In Russian, verbs in both the Past Simple and Present Perfect are translated into past tense verbs, so it is sometimes difficult for English learners to determine which tense to use in a given situation. The following table will help you understand the difference between these two English tenses more clearly: