Present Perfect

Use have with I, you, we and they; has with he, she and it. The pattern also applies to nouns: my brother names one person and takes has; my parents names several and takes have. You takes have whether it addresses one person or several.

Changing the subject changes the auxiliary, but not V3. Do not add -s to the participle for he or she.

Regular verbs have identical V2 and V3: work — worked — worked; live — lived — lived. Spelling follows the usual rules: add d after final e, while study becomes studied. For irregular verbs, check the third column: go — went — gone; see — saw — seen; write — wrote — written.

Not every irregular verb has three different forms: send — sent — sent, cut — cut — cut. Be has participle been, and have has had. Have had and has had are therefore correct combinations: the first verb is auxiliary and the second carries the main-verb meaning of have.

To make a negative, place not after have or has. The main verb remains a participle. Do, does and did are not needed to form this negative.

Have not contracts to haven’t; has not to hasn’t. Complete sentences can also use I’ve not or she’s not: I’ve not seen it; she’s not sent the file. Full forms and contractions express the same negative; contractions are common in speech.

In an ordinary yes/no question, put have or has before the subject. The participle stays after the subject. Do not add do or did or change the participle to a base verb.

To ask what or where, place that question word before the construction. Here we practise questions whose subject is already known: What have you bought? Subject questions such as Who has called? have a different structure and are not this set’s target.

In a complete statement, I have → I’ve, you have → you’ve, we have → we’ve, they have → they’ve; he has → he’s, she has → she’s, it has → it’s. The apostrophe marks omitted letters. She’s sent the email means She has sent the email. But ’s can also mean is: She’s tired means She is tired. Read the whole sentence, not just the contraction.

In a short answer, repeat have or has, not the whole action: Have you eaten? — Yes, I have. / No, I haven’t. Retain the person asked about: Has Eva called? — Yes, she has. Affirmative I’ve and she’s cannot end such an answer alone. Full Yes, I’ve eaten is correct.

Before answering, check who acts, whether you are stating, denying or asking, and which participle is needed. Then read the whole sentence: does it preserve your meaning? Do not interpret auxiliary have as a separate possession verb.

Forming the tense does not replace choosing a tense. I sent the email yesterday is correct past simple for a specific completed time. I’ve sent the email gives another perspective, a summary up to now. A present-perfect formation task requires that construction; another grammatical tense may miss its learning condition without becoming universally incorrect.

Use have with I, you, we and they; use has with he, she, it and one person's name. The auxiliary is followed by the past participle, V3: try → tried, see → seen, write → written, eat → eaten. Went is the second form of go, so it cannot follow have/has.

In questions, have or has moves before the subject. Do not add did to an already formed Present Perfect. In ordinary affirmatives, I've, you've, we've and they've are natural contractions; she's can mean she has before V3.

In a question, ever means at any time within the relevant period. In a typical experience question, put it after the subject and before V3: Have you ever tried…? This is a neutral way to start discussing a familiar or new activity.

Ever is not a compulsory part of Present Perfect. Have you tried this game? is also correct and may ask about experience in context. Ever makes the at-any-time meaning more explicit. Do not automatically insert it into every affirmative.

Ever alone does not determine the tense. Did you ever work at night when you were a student? concerns a finished period as a student. In conversational American English, Did you ever…? can also ask about experience without a stated date. This is not the same error as Have you ever went…?

Never means not on any occasion and already has a negative meaning. In neutral standard English, use have/has + never + V3 without adding not for the same negation.

The same lack of experience can often be expressed with haven't/hasn't + V3 + before or haven't/hasn't ever + V3. You may change the wording while preserving the meaning of not once up to this moment.

Lack of experience does not mean inability, unwillingness or prohibition. I've never driven a van reports only past experience: the person may know how to drive another vehicle and want to try a van.

Experience can be counted: once, twice, three times. I have seen this film twice sums up two viewings up to now without saying when they happened. Do not confuse the number of occasions with duration: twice is not two years.

A question with have/has can receive a short answer using the same auxiliary: Yes, I have. / No, I haven't. After has she, use Yes, she has. / No, she hasn't. Do not contract have/has to 've/'s at the end of an affirmative short answer: Yes, I've. is not a complete standard answer.

After a short answer, you may add details of your own. Retain Present Perfect for experience; choose an appropriate past tense for a specific past occasion.

The usual pattern for experience of visiting a place is have/has been to. In contrast with gone to, it describes a visit followed by a return. Been to does not assert that the person is in that place now.

When explaining a current absence, has gone to means the person has left for a place and has not yet returned. Compare whole situations, not isolated words: gone has other natural uses too, so do not mechanically replace it with been in every question containing ever.

You can first ask about experience up to now, then ask when a particular occasion happened: Have you ever…? → When did you…? Yesterday, last April and in 2022 usually call for Past Simple rather than Present Perfect when they date the event itself.

But not every follow-up requires Past Simple. How many times have you…? continues to summarise experience up to now. Have you tried anything else? may ask about another experience. The tense depends on the follow-up's meaning, not its position in the dialogue.

A finished time frame may be clear without a calendar date, for example in an account restricted to a former job you have left. The absence of yesterday or last year does not force Present Perfect.

First decide what you are communicating: experience, lack of experience, the number of occasions or details of one occasion. Then choose have/has, V3 and, if needed, ever, never or before. This is more reliable than searching for a single signal word.

Preserve the facts: who performed the action, how many times, whether it was negative and what time frame was specified. Do not turn has tried into can do, has never done into will never do, or two independent facts into a proven cause.

In open exercises, the sample shows one natural option. You can use other words, full or appropriate contracted forms, and personal or invented situations. Check your answer for meaning, form and the task's visible objective.

In the target time meaning, just means “a very short time ago”. Usually put it between have/has and the past participle. How much time has passed depends on the situation: it does not specify a fixed number of seconds or minutes.

Just also has other meanings, including “only”. Do not infer its meaning from the word alone. In I’ve just checked the price, it can express recency or limit the action; context clarifies this. Here the main target is reporting a recent event.

Already says something has happened by now or by another relevant point. It often suggests “earlier than expected”, but surprise is not required: it can calmly report that a task is done and need not be repeated.

The usual position is after have/has and before the past participle. Sentence-final position is also correct, especially in conversation or for emphasis. Do not place already between a transitive verb and its direct object: have already washed the cups or have washed the cups already.

In ordinary questions about expected events, yet means “by this point”. Have they arrived yet? asks whether they have arrived by now. Negative not … yet reports that the event has not happened. Keep not: the negation distinguishes a missing result from an affirmative statement.

The simplest everyday position for yet is at the end of a question or negative sentence. Hasn’t yet finished is also possible: slightly more formal, but correct. Not yet often leaves an event expected, but does not itself promise or guarantee it, or give an exact completion date.

Use have with I/you/we/they and has with he/she/it. After the adverb, use the past participle: write → written, eat → eaten, see → seen; regular verbs take -ed. The adverb does not allow you to omit the auxiliary or replace the past participle with the ordinary past tense.

In questions, have/has precedes the subject: Has she …? Add not for negation: have not / haven’t, has not / hasn’t. I’ve means I have; she’s before a past participle can mean she has. Both full and contracted forms are natural; choose for the situation.

Both just and already can fit a completed action without more context. I’ve just sent it emphasises recency; I’ve already sent it emphasises that sending has happened by now. Choosing just one requires a specific intention rather than an unexplained gap.

Already is less common in negatives, but possible, for example when checking whether something is done. Yet appears mainly in this lesson’s questions and negatives, but is not limited to those uses in English: have yet to do means something remains to be done, and best yet means “best so far”. These mark the rule’s boundaries, rather than extra patterns for active A2 practice.

American English commonly uses I just called and Did you eat yet? These are not grammatical errors. This training often explicitly requests the present perfect to practise its form. Another natural tense can then fail the task requirement while remaining valid English.

Use the construction to do something in a conversation: report news, prevent duplicated work, check readiness or honestly say what is missing. A short sentence is enough; the next can explain its practical consequence.

Check meaning and form separately. What is already done? What happened very recently? What has not happened yet? Who performed the action? Then check have/has, the past participle and adverb position. Do not add promises or new facts absent from the situation.