1. THE PRESENT
PERFECT

2. FORM
Affirmative sentences:
We use the auxiliary “have” (“has“ for the
3rd person singular) + the past participle of
the verb.
e.g. They have been to China.

3. Negative sentences:
We use the auxiliary “have” (“has“ for the
3rd person singular) + not + the past
participle of the verb.
e.g. They have not been to China.

4. Questions:
We use the auxiliary “have” (“has“ for the
3rd person singular) + the past participle of
the verb. And we also change the word order
to have/has + subject + past participle
e.g. Have they been to China?

5. USE
RECENT PAST ACTIONS
We use the present perfect to talk about recent
actions, not saying exactly when things
happened:
• Ouch! I’ve cut my finger.
• My sister has had a baby!

6. We often use yet, just and already with the
present perfect tense.
• just (to say something happened very recently)
and already (to say something happened earlier
than expected) go before the main verb in
positive sentences.
• yet (to ask if something has happened or say it
hasn’t happened) goes at the end in negative
sentences and in questions.
• He’s just arrived at the airport.
• We’ve already met his new girlfriend.
• She hasn’t arrived yet.

7. Complete the following sentences using
yet, already or just.
yet
-Has Gina phoned you ……………….?
just
-Yes, she has ………………. phoned me.
-Have you done your homework .............?
yet
yet
-No, I haven’t done it ………………..
-Do you know Mary is coming for dinner?
already
-Yes, she has………………. phoned me.