What is the present perfect?

The present perfect connects the past to now. Use have or has plus a changed form of the verb for an experience with no exact time, or a result you can still see today: I have lost my keys means you still cannot find them.

The rule

Use have with I, you, we, they, and has with he, she, it and any single person or thing. After have or has, the main verb changes: regular verbs add -ed (worked, visited), but many common verbs are irregular (seen, gone, eaten, written).

Do not add a word that names an exact past time, such as yesterday or in 2019. Those words need the past simple instead.

Form

Examples

• I have lost my phone.
• She has visited ten countries.
• We have never tried sushi.
• He has just finished his homework.
• Have you seen this film before?

Common mistakes

• ❌ He have visited Rome. → ✅ He has visited Rome. He is one person, so the sentence needs has, not have.
• ❌ I have go to school. → ✅ I have gone to school. After have, the main verb changes its form; it cannot stay in its base form.
• ❌ She has went to Spain. → ✅ She has gone to Spain. Went is only for the past simple; the present perfect needs gone.
• ❌ We have visited Paris yesterday. → ✅ We visited Paris yesterday. Yesterday names an exact past time, so it needs the past simple, not the present perfect.