Mastering the Present Perfect

The present perfect (have/has + past participle) links the past to now.

When to use it

• Experience, with no time given: I have visited Mombasa.
• A past action with a result now: She has lost her keys (she still can't find them).
• Something that started in the past and continues: We have lived here since 2020.

When to use the simple past instead

Use the simple past when you say when it happened:

• Correct: I visited Mombasa last year.
• Wrong: I have visited Mombasa last year.

Signal words

• Present perfect: ever, never, already, yet, just, since, for
• Simple past: yesterday, last week, in 2019, ago

Try it: "I ___ (finish) my homework already." (Answer: have finished)