Present Perfect Tense

Teacher Juan Jose Silva

by Friederike Kolbe

There are three main verb tenses in English: present, past and future.

• ​the simple,

• ​progressive,

• ​perfect

• ​perfect progressive.

There are 12 major verb tenses

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​Simple present: I drive home every day.

Simple past: I drove home yesterday.

Simple future: I will drive home later.

​​​Simple tenses usually refer to a single action. In general, simple tenses express facts and situations that existed in the past, exist in the present, or will exist in the future.

Simple tenses are usually, but not necessarily, accompanied by adverbs of time.

• ​Present progressive:

• I am driving now.

• ​​Past progressive:

I was driving when you called.

• Future progressive:

• I will be driving when you call.

​We use progressive tenses to talk about unfinished, or ongoing or continuing events. Progressive tenses are also called continuous tenses. Look for verbs, which are ending in “-ing”

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They express the idea that one event happens before another event.

There are many tricky exceptions with the perfect tenses. The adverbs never, yet and already are common in perfect tenses.

​Perfect tenses often employ auxiliary verbs, such as has, have, and had, which are then added by a verb in its past participle form.

• ​Present perfect:

• I have worked at the office for 2 years.

• Past perfect:

• I had finished my degree before I started a new job.

• Future perfect:

• I will have driven 200 miles by tomorrow.

​Generally, perfect progressive tenses express duration, or how long? Perfect progressive tenses usually include the adverbs for or since.

• Present perfect progressive: I have been driving since this morning.

  Past perfect progressive: I had been driving for three hours before I stopped to get gas.

  Future perfect progressive: I will have been driving for five hours by the time I arrive.