Use the Present Perfect when a past action matters now and the exact time isn't the point: I've lost my keys. Also for life experience (Have you ever been to Rome?) and situations that started in the past and are still true (I've lived here since 2020.). Form: have / has + past participle.
I have lost my keys.
The action happened before, but the arc reaches NOW. What matters is the result today, not the moment it happened.
| Positive | I've worked. · She's finished. |
|---|---|
| Negative | I haven't worked. · She hasn't finished. |
| Question | Have you worked? · Has she finished? |
Regular verbs add -ed (worked). Irregular verbs have their own participle: go → gone, see → seen, write → written.
I've broken my phone.
The break happened earlier; the point is that the phone doesn't work now.
Have you ever been to Japan?
Any time in your life up to now. When exactly doesn't matter.
I've lived here since 2020.
With since and for: the situation began in the past and continues now.
She's just left.
With just, already and yet: something new, and relevant now.
Words that often go with this tense. They're hints, not rules.
I _____ my homework. Can I go out now?
Other present tenses: Present Simple, Present Continuous, Present Perfect Continuous.
Paste an email or an essay. Clarigram marks the mistakes you actually make, shows the rule behind each one as a picture, and builds your practice from them.
No. Any word that names a finished time (yesterday, last year, in 2019, ago) needs the Past Simple.
It's common in spoken American English. British English, and most exams, expect "Have you eaten yet?"
For gives a length of time (for five years). Since gives the starting point (since 2020). Both usually take the Present Perfect when the situation is still true.