Present Perfect

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Present Perfect

We use this tense when we want to talk about unfinished actions or states or habits that started in the past and continue to the present. Usually we use it to say 'how long' and we need 'since' or 'for'. We often use stative verbs.

Examples:

I've known Karen since 1994.

She's lived in London for three years.

I've worked here for six months.

Since and For

'Since' and 'For'

We use 'since' with a fixed time in the past (2004, April 23rd, last year). The fixed time can be another action, which is in the past simple (since I was at school, since I arrived).

I've liked chocolate since I was a child.

She's been here since 2pm.

Examples

I've known Sam since 1992.

I've liked chocolate since I was a child.

She's been here since 2pm.

For

We use 'for' with a period of time (2 hours, three years, six months).

I've known Julie for ten years.

I've been hungry for hours.

She's had a cold for a week.

Finished action

Life experience. These are actions or events that happened sometime during a person's life. We don't say when the experience happened, and the person needs to be alive now. We often use the words 'ever' and 'never' here.

Examples

I have been to Tokyo.

They have visited Paris three times.

We have never seen that film.

We CAN'T use the present perfect with a finished time word.

NOT:I've seen him yesterday.