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Departament d’Educació
Escola Oficial d’Idiomes
Reus
Passeig Boca de la Mina, 35
43206 REUS
Past Tenses
Present perfect: forms
STATEMENT: SUBJECT + HAVE / HAS + PAST PARTICIPLE
1 I have eaten my lunch.
2 The students have finished the reading exercise.
3 Roger has done his homework
4 I’ve/You’ve/We’ve (I have/ you have/we have) done the reading exercise
5 She’s /He’s (She has / he has )finished reading the book.
6 It’s been warm for the past week.
With pronouns, have is normally used in the contracted form, ‘ve and ‘s:
oI’ve, you’ve, we’ve, they’ve, she’s, he’s it’s
oNEGATIVE: SUBJECT + HAVE/HAS + NOT + PAST PARTICIPLE
1 I have not (haven’t) eaten my lunch.
2 Roger has not (hasn’t) done his homework.
QUESTION: HAVE/HAS + SUBJECT + PAST PARTICIPLE
1 Have you eaten your lunch?
2 Has Roger eaten his lunch?
3 How long have you lived here?
oIn the question form, the auxiliary verb (have or has) goes before the subject.
oA: Have you eaten lunch yet?
oB: Yes, I have. or: No, I haven’t
oA: Has Roger done his homework?
o B: Yes, he has. OR: No, he hasn’t.
Present perfect: uses
2. Patricia hasn’t eaten lunch yet.
3. Have you ever eaten at that restaurant?
4. I’ve never eaten there.
oThe present perfect expresses activities or situations that occurred (or did not
occur) “before now”, at some time in the past. (*If the exact time is mentioned, can
be considered “a point in time”, then the simple past tense is used: e.g. yesterday,
two days ago, last Friday night, last month, at 4:00) In the example sentences
above, 1,2,3,4, no exact time is indicated: the time is only “some nonspecific time
before now”.
nMelanie has eaten at that restaurant many times before.
nI’ve been to that restaurant four or five times.
nWe’ve had three exams so far this week.
nThe present perfect expresses activities that were repeated several or many
times in the past, but the exact times are not specified.
1. Elizabeth has lived in this town since 1995.
2. I have known Carol for seven years.
3. We’ve been at the university since 9:00 this morning.
oWhen the present perfect is used with since or for, it expresses situations
that began in the past and continue to the present.
The present perfect vs. the simple past: use
oSIMPLE PAST:
1. Helen finished her homework two hours ago.
oPRESENT PERFECT:
2. Helen has already finished her homework.
oSIMPLE PAST:
3. I was in California last year/ three years ago/ in 1995/ when I was 14 years old.
Generalitat de Catalunya Professor: Guillermo Morató Aracil
Departament d’Educació
Escola Oficial d’Idiomes
Reus
Passeig Boca de la Mina, 35
43206 REUS
oPRESENT PERFECT:
4. I have been in California many times/ several times/a couple of times/ once.(no
exact time is mentioned)
oThe present perfect expresses an activity
or action that occurred at an unspecified time (or times) in the past, as in
examples (2) and (4).
oIn example (1) Helen finished her homework at some specific point in time, i.e.
two hours ago.
oIn example (2) Helen finished her homework at an unspecified time in the past
(sometime before now)
oThe simple past therefore expresses an activity or action that occurred at a
specific time (or times) in the past, as in examples (1) and (3).
already, yet, still: use
ALREADY 1. The cleaning lady came an hour ago.
The cleaning lady is already here.
2. The postman came a little while ago.
The mail is already here.
The idea of already :something that happened before now, before this time.
Position: midsentence.
YET 1. I expected the postman to come an hour ago, but he hasn’t come yet.
2. I have been waiting here for an hour, but Sophie hasn’t arrived yet.
oThe idea of yet : something did not happen before now (up to this time), but it
may happen in the future.
oPosition: end of the sentence
oYesterday morning I was sitting in my office when the phone rang.
oLast night it was raining while we were eating dinner.
oWe were watching a TV program when you called.
oWere you listening to the news at 3:00 yesterday afternoon?
oI wasn’t paying attention to what she was saying.
Past perfect simple:
oFORM: SUBJECT + HAD + PAST PARTICIPLE
oThe past perfect simple tense expresses an activity that was completed before
another activity or time in the past.
oElizabeth had already finished her homework by the time I arrived home.
oShe said she had talked to him on the phone before he left his office.
oIf you had arrived earlier, you could have met my partner. He left 15 minutes
ago.
oHis business partner had already left when we arrived.(First, his business partner
left, then we arrived: when we got there, his partner was not there.))
oHis business partner left when we arrived.(When we arrived, his partner was still
there. He had not left yet.)
Generalitat de Catalunya Professor: Guillermo Morató Aracil
Departament d’Educació
Escola Oficial d’Idiomes
Reus
Passeig Boca de la Mina, 35
43206 REUS
oNote the difference in meaning between sentence example 5 and example 6.