This document discusses various perfect tenses in English including the present perfect, present perfect continuous, past perfect, and past perfect continuous. It provides examples of how each tense is formed and the contexts in which they are typically used such as to emphasize duration of an activity, relate two past events, or describe experiences without a specific time frame.

1. PERFECT TENSES

2. PRESENT PERFECT
SIMPLE
HAVE/HAS + PARTICIPLE ( 3rd column or –ed)

3. 1. Actions that happened in the past without saying
when with/without a result. Experiences.
• She has been to Italy.
• I can’t play tennis because I’ve broken my leg.
• Sarah has made some tea.
• We haven’t studied Chinese.

4. ALREADY, JUST, NEVER, EVER, YET
• She has just eaten. (acabar de)
• They have never ridden a horse
• Have you ever been to China? ( alguna vez)
• My sister has already read that book. ( ya)
• I haven’t done my homework yet. ( todavía)
• Have your parents left yet? ( ya)
+ + + ? -, ?
You can also find «already» in interrogative and «ever» in affirmative.

5. 2. Actions that started in the past and continue up
to the present.
• They have had that car since (desde)2000
• My friend has lived in Baena for(desde hace) 4 years.
• BE CAREFUL!!!!!!if the action is complete and finished…we
use the past simple.
My friend lived here in 2009.

6. PRESENT PERFECT CONTINUOUS
HAVE/HAS + BEEN + ING

7. 1. It’s similar to the present perfect simple but in
this case we want to emphasize the duration of the
activity.
• The grass is wet. Yes, it has been raining all night.
• I have a terrible headache. I’ve been studying since 5
o’clock

8. PAST PERFECT SIMPLE
HAD + PARTICIPLE

9. 1. A past action that happened before another
action in the past.
• By the time I arrived at the concert, it had already started.
• The police arrested the burglar after he had broken into my
house.
• She gave me a book but I had already read that book before.

10. HAD BEEN + ING

11. 1. Similar to the past perfect simple but you focus
on the duration of the activity.
• He stopped to rest because he had been driving all day long.
• Sarah seemed very angry yesterday. Yes, she had been waiting
for your call for a long time.
proyectoespiritusanto.blogspot.com

12. Rewrite ( there’s one sentence that isn’t in the perfect tense)
1. John started working at 9 and he still hasn’t finished.
John…
2. I last saw you in 2000
I…
3. I did my homework before I went out.
I didn’t go out…
4. I was on my bike when I fell ( ride)
I…
5. The band started playing at 10. we arrived at 10.30 ( before)
The band…
6. I started waiting for you at 1. I’m still waiting
I…
7. She got ill last Wednesday. She is still ill.
she…
8. The children finished their homework and then they ate an ice cream ( after)
The children…