Post 1: Have you ever...?

Hello everyone, 

In our first post we will focus on a challenging but useful grammatical form, the present perfect! Below you will find a brief video explaining what it means and how it is used.

What it is and why we use it

Watch the video and think about the following questions. If you are inspired, you can leave your answers in the comment section!

• What are some different situations in which you can use the present perfect?
• Think about how you would express these same situations using Spanish. Would you use the present perfect in the same way as in English? Why or why not? In which cases is it different?
• What do you notice about the structure of the present perfect? How is it formed?

How we form it

The present perfect is a simple structure to form. It has two main elements.

• The auxiliary verb or helping verb "have"
• The main verb in the past participle form

Consider the chart below.

This chart shows how to form the affirmative, negative, and question forms of the present perfect. Notice that all of them contain the helping verb "have" and the past participle form of the main verb.

Some examples

Here are 10 example sentences. Which ones are affirmative? Which are negative? Which are interogative?

Help with past participles

The most challenging aspect of forming the present perfect is the past participle. The past form and past participle form of regular verbs are exactly the same. The problem is that there are MANY irregular verbs in English and they do not follow any particular logic. You just have to learn them. Click the link below to find a list of the most common irregular verbs in English!

https://www.gingersoftware.com/content/grammar-rules/verbs/list-of-irregular-verbs/

Practice

This fun game can help you practice the past participle forms to create present perfect sentences. If you win, you get to catapult your teacher!

Click Here to play.

Below you will find several practice exercises to help you with the different forms of the present perfect.

AFFIRMATIVE

NEGATIVE

INTERROGATIVE

ALL FORMS

Extra Resources

Education First has a great website with comprehensive grammar explanations. Click here to see plenty of explanations and examples of how to use the present perfect!

EDUCATION FIRST