English · A2 · grammar · 4 minutes
Present perfect: past connected to now
Use have/has + past participle for experience, unfinished time, or a present result.
Understand the choice
Present perfect connects an earlier event to now: a current result, life experience, or period that still includes the present.
Core rule: Present perfect uses have/has + past participle and avoids finished-time markers such as yesterday in standard usage.
Notice it in context
I have lost my key, so I cannot open the door.
He perdido mi llave, así que no puedo abrir la puerta.
Have agrees with I; lost is participle; cannot open shows the current result.
She has visited Rome three times.
Three Rome visits are part of her life experience.
Has visited expresses experience without finished date.
We have worked here since January.
Our work began in January and continues now.
Since gives starting point in an unfinished state.
What to remember
- Been describes experience/return; gone often means still away.
- Ever, never, already, yet, since, and for commonly appear with present perfect.
Common trap: Do not use present perfect with a clearly finished yesterday clause in neutral standard English.