English grammar: Present perfect

What this grammar point covers

The present perfect is a verb tense in English used to talk about actions or experiences that happened at an unspecified time in the past, or that started in the past and continue to the present.

When to use it

Use the present perfect to talk about experiences, actions that happened at an unknown time before now, or actions that started in the past and still continue.

Key forms

• have/has + past participle (e.g., have eaten, has seen)

Examples

Tips

• Do not use the present perfect with specific past time words like 'yesterday' or 'last year'.
• Remember: use 'have' with I/you/we/they and 'has' with he/she/it.
• The past participle of regular verbs ends in -ed, but many verbs are irregular (e.g., 'go' → 'gone').

Exceptions and edge cases

• Some verbs have irregular past participles (e.g., 'eat' → 'eaten', 'see' → 'seen').