Lesson 11. Present Perfect Tense
Introduction
You’ll review the common irregular verb have and learn how to form and use past participles and the present perfect tense. Plenty of examples are included to make each concept easy to understand. The lesson starts with a short English conversation to help you improve your conversational English skills.
Conversations
English
Tom and Sarah are talking during lunch break. Tom mentions a new band that he really likes.
Tom: Have you heard any songs by the new band Syndica?
Sarah: No. I haven't heard of them before.
Tom: They've only been around for about a year. They released their first album just last week.
Sarah: Have they played any shows around here?
Tom: They've played at the Commodore Theater before, and they have another concert scheduled for next month. I've already bought a ticket.
Sarah: I'll listen to them tonight, and if I like them, maybe I'll go too.
Eric: It'll be a great show. I haven't been to any concerts lately, so I'm really looking forward to it.
Sarah: I haven't seen any good concerts yet this year either.
Eric: Let me know if you decide to go. Tom and I, and maybe a few others, are going to have dinner before the show. You're welcome to join us.
Sarah: Thanks. That sounds like fun.
Deutsch
Tom und Sarah unterhalten sich in der Mittagspause. Tom erwähnt eine neue Band, die er sehr mag.
Tom: Hast du schon einen der Songs von der neuen Band Syndica gehört?
Sarah: Nein. Ich habe noch nie von dieser Band gehört.
Tom: Es gibt sie erst seit etwa einem Jahr. Erst letzte Woche haben sie ihr erstes Album veröffentlicht.
Sarah: Haben sie hier in der Gegend schon mal gespielt?
Tom: Sie haben schon einmal im Commodore Theater gespielt. Nächsten Monat haben sie ein weiteres Konzert geplant. Ich habe bereits eine Karte dafür gekauft.
Sarah: Ich werde sie mir heute Abend anhören, und wenn sie mir gefallen, werde ich vielleicht auch hingehen.
Eric: Das wird eine tolle Show. Ich war in letzter Zeit auf keinem Konzert, deshalb freue ich mich sehr darauf.
Sarah: Ich habe dieses Jahr auch noch keine guten Konzerte gesehen.
Eric: Sag mir Bescheid, wenn du dich entschließt, zum Konzert zu gehen. Tom und ich, und vielleicht noch ein paar andere, gehen vor dem Konzert noch essen. Du kannst dich uns gerne anschließen.
Sarah: Danke. Das klingt nach Spaß.
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Grammar
The verb have
The verb have is one of the most common verbs in English and has several different meanings. Here are some of the more common one:
- own
- possess
- hold
- include
- state the existence of
- to be scheduled to attend, undertake, or perform and action
- experience or undergo
- be afflicted with
- cause to be
The verb have is also used as a helper verb to create the present perfect tense, which will be covered later in this lesson. The following table shows the present and past tense of the verb have.
| Present Tense | Past Tense | |
|---|---|---|
| I | have | had |
| you | have | had |
| he | has | had |
| it | has | had |
| she | has | had |
| we | have | had |
| they | have | had |
Beispiele
| I have a laptop. | Ich habe einen Laptop. |
| I have his car keys. | Ich habe seine Autoschlüssel. |
| The door has a lock. | Die Tür hat ein Schloss. |
| I have a brother. | Ich habe einen Bruder. |
| I had a cold. | Ich hatte eine Erkältung. |
| I have an appointment at 3:00. | Ich habe einen Termin um drei Uhr. |
| I have too much work to do. | Ich habe zu viel zu tun. |
| We had a great time. | Wir hatten eine tolle Zeit. |
The Past Participle
The past particple is a form of a verb that can be used to turn verbs into adjectives. The past participle can also be used with the auxiliary verb have to create certain verb tenses such as the present perfect tense that will be discussed later in the lesson.
For most verbs, the past participle is the same as the past tense. Some example of past participles that are the same as the past tense are shown in the following table.
| Verb | Past Tense | Past Participle | Deutsch |
|---|---|---|---|
| close | closed | closed | schließen |
| learn | learned | learned | lernen |
| have | had | had | haben |
| think | thought | thought | denken |
| find | found | found | finden |
There are some very common verbs in English that have a unique form of the past participle. Most verbs whose past tense is creating by changing the vowel have a unique form of the past participle. Some common verbs with a unique form of the past participle are shown in the following table.
| Verb | Past Tense | Past Participle | Deutsch |
|---|---|---|---|
| be | was | been | sein |
| go | went | gone | gehen |
| begin | began | begun | beginnen |
| drink | drank | drunk | trinken |
| ring | rang | rung | klingeln |
| sing | sang | sung | singen |
| sink | sank | sunk | sinken |
| swim | swam | swum | schwimmen |
| bite | bit | bidden | beißen |
| hide | hid | hidden | verstecken |
| drive | drove | driven | fahren |
| ride | rode | ridden | fahren, reiten |
| rise | rose | risen | steigen, aufgehen |
| strive | strove | striven | streben |
| write | wrote | written | schreiben |
| break | broke | broken | brechen |
| choose | chose | chosen | wählen |
| freeze | frose | frosen | frieren |
| fly | flew | flown | fliegen |
| come | came | come | kommen |
| do | did | done | tun, machen |
| eat | ate | eaten | essen |
| find | found | found | finden |
| forget | forgot | forgotten | vergessen |
| give | gave | given | geben |
| throw | threw | thrown | werfen |
| know | knew | known | wissen, kennen |
| run | ran | run | laufen, rennen |
| see | saw | seen | sehen |
| speak | spoke | spoken | sprechen |
| take | took | taken | nehmen |
Examples
| a locked door | eine verschlossene Tür |
| a broken window | ein zerbrochenes Fenster |
| a hidden treasure | ein versteckter Schatz |
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Present Perfect Tense
The present perfect tense is created in English by using the past participle of a verb along with the present tense of the verb have.
The following table shows how to create the present perfect tense for the verb walk.
| Present Perfect Tense |
|---|
| I have walked |
| you have walked |
| he has walked |
| she has walked |
| it has walked |
| we have walked |
| they have walked |
The present perfect tense is used in English to describe:
- an action that started in the past and continues into the present
- an action that started in the past and just finished
- a repeated series of actions that have finished in the past, but are likely to happen again in the future
- a change that has happened over an extended amount of time.
For example:
| I've gone to see the ocean. |
| I have seen the ocean. |
| I have seen the ocean many times. |
| I have seen the ocean, but I can't remember when. |
| She has grown since the last time I saw her. |
Never use the present perfect tense with with words such as today, yesterday, days of the week, or other words that indicate a specific time. For a single action that happened at a specific time in the past, the simple past tense needs to be used. For example:
| I saw the ocean yesterday. |
| I saw the ocean on Monday. |
| I saw the ocean in June. |
| I saw the ocean on our vacation. |
Examples
| I have been to Spain. | Ich bin in Spanien gewesen. |
| She has gotten better at math. | Sie ist besser in Mathe geworden. |
| I have learned another language. | I have learned another language. |
| They have done that already. | Das haben sie bereits getan. |
| We have seen the movie. | Wir haben den Film gesehen. |
| He has written a book. | Er hat ein Buch geschrieben. |
| The book has been read by many people. | Das Buch ist von vielen Menschen gelesen worden. |
Contractions
Contractions are often used with pronouns and have.
Examples
| I've done that too many times. | Das habe ich schon zu oft getan. |
| You've seen it already. | Sie haben es bereits gesehen. |
| She's taken that course before. | Sie hat diesen Kurs schon einmal belegt. |
| He's watched the show five times already. | Er hat sich die Sendung bereits fünfmal angesehen. |
Negative Statements with the Present Perfect
The following table shows the forms of the present perfect tense that are used to make a negative statement.
| Negative Form |
|---|
| I haven't walked |
| you haven't walked |
| he hasn't walked |
| she hasn't walked |
| it hasn't walked |
| we haven't walked |
| they haven't walked |
You can also create a negative statement by using the adverb never after the verb have.
Examples
| It hasn't happened before. | Es ist noch nicht passiert. |
| I haven't been there. | Ich war nicht dort. |
| We've never been there. | Wir waren noch nie dort. |
| I have never done that. | Das habe ich nie getan. |
Question Form of the Present Perfect
To make a questions with the present perfect tense, the noun or pronoun follows the auxiliary verb have.
| Question Form |
|---|
| Have I walked? |
| Have you walked? |
| Has he walked? |
| Has she walked? |
| Has it walked? |
| Have we walked? |
| Have they walked? |
Examples
| Have you ever seen a bear? | Haben Sie schon einmal einen Bären gesehen? |
| Has the car ever worked? | Hat das Auto jemals funktioniert? |
| Have the books been read yet? | Sind die Bücher schon gelesen worden? |
| Have you thought about it? | Haben Sie darüber nachgedacht? |
| Has it happened before? | Ist es schon einmal passiert? |
| Have you seen it already? | Hast du es schon gesehen? |
| Where have you been? | Wo bist du gewesen? |
Flashcards
Here are some flashcards to help you learn the present perfect tense of some common English verbs.
Quiz
In the quiz for this lesson, you'll practice writing sentences using the present perfect tense. You can take the quiz as many times as you like. Your highest score will be saved.
Change the following sentences to the present perfect tense. Make sure to use correct capitalization and do not use contractions.
Example - Question: I do the work. Answer: I have done the work.
