Grammar / Present Perfect
Present Perfect: Explanation, Examples & Exercises
The present perfect (have/has + past participle) connects the past to now. Use it for life experience without a specific time (I have visited Japan), recent events with a result in the present (I have lost my keys), and situations that started in the past and continue today (She has worked here for ten years).
Reviewed by Brando Oxley · 6 Aug 2026
Form
Positive: subject + have/has + past participle. I have finished. She has finished. With contractions: I've finished, she's finished.
Regular past participles add -ed (work → worked); many common verbs are irregular: go → gone, see → seen, do → done, eat → eaten, be → been.
Negative: have/has + not — I haven't seen it. He hasn't replied.
Question: Have/Has + subject + past participle — Have you eaten? Has she arrived?
How it is used
Life experience, with no specific time: I have never tried skiing. Have you ever worked from home? Ever and never are common with this meaning.
A recent event with a result you can feel now: I have lost my keys (so I can't open the door). Just, already and yet often appear here.
Something that started in the past and continues now, with for (a length of time) or since (a starting point): They have lived in Lisbon since 2019. I have known her for twenty years.
When you say a finished time — yesterday, last week, in 2019 — use the past simple instead: I saw him yesterday, not I have seen him yesterday.
Common errors
✗I have seen that film yesterday.
✓I saw that film yesterday.
A finished time expression (yesterday, last week, in 2020) takes the past simple.
✗She has went home.
✓She has gone home.
Use the past participle after have/has — go → gone, not went.
✗I am here since Monday.
✓I have been here since Monday.
For a situation that started in the past and continues now, English uses the present perfect, not the present simple.
✗We live in this city for ten years.
✓We have lived in this city for ten years.
For + a length of time with an unfinished situation needs the present perfect.
✗They have worked there since three years.
✓They have worked there for three years.
For + a period (three years); since + a starting point (2023, March, last summer).
Example sentences
Life experience (ever / never)
- I have never tried skiing, but I would like to.
- Have you ever worked from home?
- She has visited more than twenty countries for her job.
Recent events with a result now (just / already / yet)
- We have just finished the report.
- He has already left the office.
- I haven't paid the electricity bill yet.
With for and since
- They have lived in Lisbon since 2019.
- I have known my best friend for twenty years.
- She has worked at the hospital for six months.
Exercise 1 — Fill the gaps
Complete each sentence, then tap to check your answer.
1.I · to South America, but it is on my list.(never / be)
2.She · here since March.(work)
3.We · dinner, so the kitchen is still warm.(just / finish)
4.Have you ever · Thai street food?(try)
5.He · to my email yet.(not / reply)
6.They · each other for ten years.(know)
7.My parents · in the same house since 1998.(live)
Exercise 2 — Choose the correct form
Tap an option to check it immediately.
1.I ____ my keys — can you help me look for them?
2.She has ____ to the new office.
3.We have lived here ____ 2020.
4.I ____ him at the market yesterday.
5.Have you finished the report ____?
Printable worksheet
Present Perfect worksheet (PDF)
The exercises above as a print-ready page with an answer key — preview, then print or save as PDF.