Present Perfect Tenses Definition and 20 Example Sentences

Present Perfect Tenses Definition and 20 Example Sentences

Present Perfect Tense

Think about the gatherings you attend with your best friends in a pub. Probably you use the following phrase. “Those were the days, my friend”. In this kind of meeting, the exact time of the past is not important. You remember how ridiculous or how amazing the event was. Let’s say you just met with a person. What kind of questions do you ask? Have you ever been to a Foo Fighters concert? Or you have a child. Have you done your homework, sweetheart?

The present perfect tense is the time period for this usage. How do you make a sentence in the present perfect tense? Do you want to see example sentences in the present perfect tense? Throughout this page, we will be answering these questions.

What is the present perfect tense?

The present perfect tense is the tense that you express an experience, but the exact timing is not important. Have you seen Star Wars? In this question, the focus is the action, not the time you watch it.

How to make a positive sentence in the present perfect tense?

There are several formulas in English. The following one is for making a positive sentence in the present perfect tense. “Subject/Noun + have/has + Verb₃ + Object” Examples? Here they come.

• I have done a miserable mistake by leaving you.
• It seems like someone has cooked crème brulee for the dessert.
• The IT department has created the entire system without any outsourcing.

How to make a negative sentence in the present perfect tense?

Negative sentences are the sentence that means no positive meaning. What is the formula for making negative sentences in the present perfect tense? It is “Subject/Noun + have/has + not + Verb₃ + Object”. You can use the word “never” but we will explain it in a different section. Let’s clarify the logic by understandable examples.

• Matterhorn, your son has not done the homework assigned to him.
• John Stuart Mill has not published a book on international political economy, but his works paved the way through this academic field.
• Please, I am innocent. I have not done anything illegal.
• Max Payne has saved Mona Sax from her enemy, Vladimir Lem.

How to as a question in present perfect tense?

When you ask a question in the present perfect tense, you should use the formula in English. That is “Have/Has + Subject/Noun + Ever (optional) + Verb₃ + Object “. The word “ever” adds the meaning of past life experiences.

• Have you ever been to New York City?
• Has Dave Grohl played with his favorite musicians?
• Have you ever done anything illegal in the mentioned time period?
• Have you ever been a leader of a software team?

The case of “never”.

The word “never” adds a negative meaning to a sentence in the present perfect tense. In other words, “never” is used to convert a positive sentence into a negative sentence.

• I have never seen an amazing girl like you in my entire life.
• The IT department has never used this software framework.
• He has never lied to me throughout our relationship.
• We have never seen an irresponsible colleague like you. You are fired.

The case of “just”.

When you use the word “just” in a sentence in the present perfect tense, you add the meaning of a sudden occurrence.

• We have just met him (probably he is a new member of a friend group)
• Maria has just left the office. (probably she left from the office in five minutes)
• Her plane has just arrived. (probably she is still in the airport or she did not leave from the plane).