Present Perfect

The present perfect is a tense that has many uses and applications in the English language. Its structure is simple, but it can be more confusing to learn when it is appropriate to use the present perfect tense. Use
these activities to help your ESL students master using the present perfect tense.

Construction

The present perfect is formed as follows:

Subject + have + past participle

The main problems with constructing the present perfect happen when students do not know the irregular forms of past participles. Memorizing them is the most reliable way to know them. Some examples include begun (past participle of begin), had (have), sung (sing), been (be). A helpful list of irregular past participles can be found on the website My English Teacher.net.

Use 1-Experience

When you want to tell about an experience you have had in the past, you can use the present perfect tense. The important thing is that you did something, not when you did it. Specific time is not as important in the present perfect tense as that actual action.

Activity: Write a list of experiences common to people on a piece of paper. Some ideas can be "I have been to Spain," or "I have bought a new car." Give a copy of the list to each student. Tell students to ask others in the room if they have ever done the activities on the list. Students then come back together to discuss what they found out about their classmates.

Use 2-Change

The present perfect can also be used to imply change over time. For example, you might say, "My car has not run for a while." This means 1.) your car is not working right now, and you cannot drive it, and 2.) your car used to work, and you could drive it at one time.

Activity: Write a list of sentences with the present perfect in them. Ask students to work in pairs to write what the different meanings of the sentences are. Use the above example as a guide for students.

Use 3-Continuing Situation

If something started in the past, and it continues through to the present, you can use the present perfect tense. For instance, you might say, "He has lived in Spain for a long time." This means that he moved there six years ago, he lives there now, and he will likely live there in the future. In this use, the present perfect describes a state, not necessarily an action. We often use "for" and "since" with this use of the present perfect. The word for is used to talk about a period of time, such as five years, 15 days, or nine minutes. However, since is used to discuss a situation that has continued from a specific point in time. For example, you may say "since 9 o'clock this morning," or "since last February."

Activity: Write several sentences using the present perfect to describe a continuing situation on construction paper or another similar type of hard paper. Cut the sentences at the point in each sentence where the time expression begins. For example, you would cut the sentence "She has lived in Los Angeles since November" before the word since. Give students in your class sections of the sentence. Have students mill around the room to find someone with an ending or beginning to their part of the sentence. It does not matter if the sentences make sense. Have them do this in about 30 seconds. Read the resulting sentences. Some of them could be rather interesting.

Use 4-Uncompleted Action You Expect to Happen

You can use the present perfect tense to describe an event or action you are waiting for and that you expected to happen some time ago. For instance, you might say, "They have not finished painting the room yet." This indicates that 1.) the room is still being painted right now, and 2.) that you thought it would have been finished before now.

Activity: Write a series of sentences using the present tense to describe uncompleted actions on a sheet of paper. Make copies for the number of pairs of students you have in class. Have students work in pairs on a copy of the series of sentences to write the implied meanings of the sentences using the above sentence and meanings as a guide.

Use 5-Different Actions at Various Times

The present perfect tense can also be used to talk about more than one action that happened in the past at different times. However, the speaker can also expect that more such actions may occur in the future. For example, "I have taken six tests this year so far," or "He has walked five miles during his exercise times this week."

Activity: Create a matching exercise that uses time expressions and the present perfect to describe different actions happening at various times. Have students match the different parts of the sentences. Then have students write a few of their own sentences to talk about different actions they have done at various times recently.

Other Helpful Phrases

Besides for and since, you can also use words like never, ever, many times, once, several times, before, so far, already and yet with the present perfect tense. For example, you might say, "I have traveled to Italy several times," or "I have never been there before."

References:

English Club: For & Since with Present Perfect TenseEnglish Club: How Do We Use the Present Perfect Tense?

English Page: Present Perfect