This document provides information on the present perfect tense in English, including its uses, structure, contractions, verbs, pronunciation, and time expressions. The present perfect is used for actions that began in the past and have relevance to the present. It is formed using some form of the verb "have" plus the past participle of the main verb. There are regular and irregular past participles. Time expressions like "yet", "already", "ever", "never", "before", "since", and "for" are used with the present perfect to indicate the time frame of the action. Exercises are provided for practice with this tense.

2. COMMUNICATIVE FUNCTIONS This tense is usually used when a time period has not finished: “ Marie has visited five museums this week.” It is often used when the time is not mentioned: “ Mark has failed his exam again.” In addition, present perfect is used when the time is not specific because we don’t know when it happened or when it is not important: “ I have gained ten pounds.” It is used to express an action that started in the past, continues until now an may or may not continue into the future: “I` ve watched Sesame Street since 1998” When you have been doing something many times: “I have tried octopus twice.”

3. STRUCTURE To form the present perfect you always need have and the past participle of a verb : I HE YOU HAVE SHE HAS WE IT THEY So, we have: subject + auxiliar + past participle + complement (pronoun) (have/has) (3 rd column of the list)

4. CONTRACTION FORM For affirmative statements you can reduce or contract the auxiliar verb like this: I – YOU – WE - THEY HAVE I ’ve -You ’ve – We ’ve – They ’ve HE – SHE – IT HAS He ’s - She ’s – It ’s For the negative statements you can do the same but in this way: I – YOU – WE - THEY HAVE NOT I haven’t – You haven’t – We haven’t – They haven’t HE – SHE – IT HAS NOT He hasn’t – She hasn’t – It hasn’t This contraction form is commonly used in real communication.

5. VERBS There are two kind of verbs that you may use in Present Perfect: regular verbs and irregular verbs . Regular verbs are those that you add an – ed or a –d at the end of the verb to convert them into past participle tense. Examples: cook ed , watch ed , look ed , tri ed , paint ed , play ed ,… Irregular verbs are those which their endings have not the same inflection as the ones mentioned before. For this, you have to use the third column of the list of the verbs which is called past participle. Examples: been (be), done (do), paid (pay), written (write), spoken (speak), eaten (eat),…

6. PAST PARTICIPLE REGULAR VERB PRONUNCIATION* Verbs that end in voiceless sound: – p – k – s – ch – sh – f – x – h. So, you have to pronounce ED as “T” Examples: Stop=Stop ped , Ask=Ask ed , Kiss=Kiss ed , Watch=Watch ed , Wash=Wash ed , Laugh=Laugh ed , Fix=Fix ed . Verbs that end in voiced sound: – l – v – n – m – r – b – g – w – y – z – and vowel sounds (diphthongs) you have to pronounce ED as “D” Examples: Call=Call ed , Love=Lov ed , Clean=Clean ed , Perform=Perform ed , Cover=Cover ed , Rob=Rob bed , Damage=Damag ed , Snow=Snow ed , Stay=Stay ed , Realize=Realiz ed , Die=Di ed .

7. Verbs that end in -t or in -d , you have to pronounce ED as “ID” Examples: Need=Need ed , Attend=Attend ed , Invent=Invent ed , Repeat=Repeat ed . To get more clarified this please visit: http :// www.youtube.com / watch?v =_ rL2hsOsW28 * Taken from: http :// esl.about.com / od / beginnerpronunciation /a/ past_pronounce.htm

8. TIME EXPRESSIONS* YET: use yet at the end of questions and negative statements in present perfect to ask or clarify about recent experiences. Example of question: Have you tried paella yet ? – Example of negative statement: No, I haven`t tried paella yet . ALREADY: use already in questions and affirmative statements to express that you really did something. Example of question: Have they already bought the food? – Example of affirmative statement: She has already visited the Cathedral. Note: Pay attention on the position of the time expression inside the sentence.

9. EVER: Use ever in questions to ask about someone`s life experiences. Example: Has Thomas ever drunk Martini? NEVER: Use never in negative short answers and statements. Example: Have you ever gone to Paris? No, I never have; or No, I have never gone to Paris. BEFORE: Use before as same as ever. Example: Has Thomas drunk Martini before ? SINCE: Use since with a time or date in the past. Example: I’ve lived in Boston since 2006. FOR: Use for to describe a period of time. Example: I`ve lived in Boston for four years. * Taken from Top Notch 2

10. EXERCISES Please visit the following webpages to practice Present Perfect Tense: http :// www.ego4u . com /en/ cram -up/ tests / present - perfect -simple-1 http :// www.ego4u . com /en/ cram -up/ tests / present - perfect -simple-2