There are many ways to talk about the past in English. I have already explained when we use Past Simple, which is the most common way to talk about the past. It is used in situations when we talk about events that happened at a specific time and are completed.

The present perfect is most commonly used to talk about events which happened at an unspecified time in the past, experiences or events which continue into the present, but there are other less common uses as well. Many students find it hard to learn, both because of the form and the fact that it is similar in meaning to Past Simple.

I will discuss the most common usages over a number of lessons to explain it better.

Form:

We use have/has + verb in the Past Participle form. For most verbs add + ed, but irregular forms have to be memorised.

• I haven’t finished my article yet. (finish-finished regular verb)
• I have seen this film twice already. (see – seen irregular verb)
• He hasn’t done his homework yet. (do -done)
• Have they ever been abroad? (be – been)

1. Unspecified time before now.

We use the present perfect to say that an action happened at an unspecified time before now. The exact time is not important. We use unspecific time expressions such as: ever, never, once, many times, several times, before, so far, already, yet, etc. The focus is on whether something happened or not and we are not concerned about the time when it happened.

We often use it to ask people about their experiences or to talk about our experiences, it is the same as saying “I’ve had or I haven’t had the experience of …”