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.
広告
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 |
例
| I have a laptop. | 私はラップトップを所有しています。 |
| I have his car keys. | 私は彼の車の鍵を持っている。 |
| The door has a lock. | ドアにはロックがあります。 |
| I have a brother. | 私には兄弟がいます。 |
| I had a cold. | 風邪をひいた。 |
| I have an appointment at 3:00. | 私は3:00に予約をしています。 |
| I have too much work to do. | 仕事が多すぎるんだ。 |
| We had a great time. | 私たちは素晴らしい時間を過ごした。 |
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 | 日本語 |
|---|---|---|---|
| close | closed | closed | 閉める |
| learn | learned | learned | 学ぶ |
| have | had | had | 持つ |
| think | thought | thought | 考えます, 考える |
| find | found | found | 見附る |
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 | 日本語 |
|---|---|---|---|
| be | was | been | 有る, 居る |
| go | went | gone | 行く |
| begin | began | begun | 始める |
| drink | drank | drunk | 飲む |
| ring | rang | rung | |
| sing | sang | sung | 歌う |
| sink | sank | sunk | |
| swim | swam | swum | 泳ぐ |
| bite | bit | bidden | 噛む |
| hide | hid | hidden | 隠す |
| drive | drove | driven | ドライブ |
| ride | rode | ridden | |
| rise | rose | risen | 上昇 |
| strive | strove | striven | 努力する |
| write | wrote | written | 書く |
| break | broke | broken | ブレーク |
| choose | chose | chosen | 選択します |
| freeze | frose | frosen | 凍る |
| fly | flew | flown | 飛ぶ, |
| come | came | come | 来る |
| do | did | done | 行う |
| eat | ate | eaten | 食べる |
| find | found | found | 見附る |
| forget | forgot | forgotten | 忘れる |
| give | gave | given | 与える |
| throw | threw | thrown | 投げる |
| know | knew | known | 知る |
| run | ran | run | 走る |
| see | saw | seen | 見る |
| speak | spoke | spoken | 話す |
| take | took | taken | テイク, 要する, 取る |
Examples
| a locked door | ロックされたドア |
| a broken window | 壊れた窓 |
| a hidden treasure | 隠された宝物 |
広告
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. | 私はスペインに行ったことがあります。 |
| She has gotten better at math. | 彼女は数学が良くなった。 |
| I have learned another language. | 私は別の言語を学びました。 |
| They have done that already. | 彼らはすでにそれをしました。 |
| We have seen the movie. | 私たちは映画を見ました。 |
| He has written a book. | 彼は本を書いた。 |
| The book has been read by many people. | この本は多くの人々によって読まれました。 |
Contractions
Contractions are often used with pronouns and have.
Examples
| I've done that too many times. | 私はそれを何度もやったことがあります。 |
| You've seen it already. | あなたはすでにそれを見ました。 |
| She's taken that course before. | 彼女は以前にそのコースを受講しました。 |
| He's watched the show five times already. | 彼はすでにショーを5回見ています。 |
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. | それは以前に起こっていません。 |
| I haven't been there. | 私はそこに行っていません。 |
| We've never been there. | 私たちはそこに行ったことがありません。 |
| I have never done that. | 私はそれをしたことがありません。 |
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? | クマを見たことがありますか？ |
| Has the car ever worked? | 自動車は過去に機能しましたか? |
| Have the books been read yet? | |
| Have you thought about it? | あなたはそれについて考えたことがありますか？ |
| Has it happened before? | それは以前に起こったことがありますか？ |
| Have you seen it already? | もう見たことがありますか？ |
| Where have you been? | どこにいましたか？ |
Flashcards
Here are some flashcards to help you learn the present perfect tense of some common English verbs.
クイズ
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.
