Present Perfect: experience

We can use the Present Perfect to ask about life experiences. We often use it with ‘ever’:

• Tom: Have you ever been to London?
• Sue: Yes, I have.
• Tom: Me too. What about Paris?  Have you ever been to Paris?  
• Sue: No, I haven’t – but I’d love to go!

Have	I you we they	(ever)	Past Participle
Has	he she it

With short answers, we use:

Yes, I / you / we / they have. – Yes, he / she / it has.

No, I / you / we / they haven’t. – No, he / she / it hasn’t.

• Tom has been to London.
• Sue has been to London too.
• They have (both) been to London.
• Sue hasn’t been to Paris.
• Sue has never been to Paris.

I You We They	have haven’t (have not)	Past Participle
He She It	has hasn’t (has not)

The past participles of regular verbs end in ‘ed’:

• Tom has visited Big Ben.
• He has walked in Hyde Park.
• He has travelled on a red bus.

A lot of common verbs have irregular past participles:

• He has been to London.
• He has seen the river Thames.
• He has eaten fish and chips.

be → been	buy → bought
see → seen	drive → driven
eat → eaten	have → had
drink → drunk	write → written

Note: For a complete list of irregular verbs, see the Pre-intermediate course, 5.2 Verbs: irregular.

Present Perfect & Past Simple

Compare:

• Tom has been to London.  (Present Perfect)
• He went there in 2016.  (Past Simple)

We use the Present Perfect to talk about life experiences. We use the Past Simple when we talk about an action at a definite past time.