Today is the last grammar lesson of the basic/elementary course.

We are going to study

the present perfect tense. Remember that it is very important to practice and to review.
¿Como se forma el present perfect? ¿Cuando utilizamos el present perfect? Hoy es
nuestra última lección gramatical del curso básico/elemental. Vamos a presentar el
tiempo gramatical “present perfect” y responder estas interrogantes. Recuerden que es
importante practicar y repasar
Before we start with this lesson where you are going to read the Present Perfect tense.
Let’s remember the tenses that we have studied up to this point:
The Present Simple and Present Continuous
We have studied these two tenses before. These refer to the present tense but in different
ways. The present simple is used to talk about actions that “usually” happen. These
actions describe routines or habits. The present continuous is used to describe actions
that are happening at the moment in which they are spoken.
Present Simple: For routines, habits and current information
- I usually get up at 6:00 am.
- Tom goes to the gym at weekends.
- Sarah has two children.
Present Continuous: for actions happening at the moment
- We are studying English at InglesTotal.
- I am not watching TV at the moment
** Como vimos estos 2 tiempos gramaticales que hemos estudiado antes (Present
tense :LECCION 10 y Present Continuous:LECCION 8) Usan el nombre present ya que
tienen una relacion con ella pero de manera distinta. El present tense se usa para
describir una acción que sucede usualmente como una rutina en cambio el present
continuous es utilizado para describir acciones que suceden en el momento en que se
esta hablando. RECUERDEN QUE NO ES LO MISMO EN ESPAÑOL Y POR ELLO
ES NECESARIO RESPETAR LAS REGLAS GRAMATICALES DEL IDIOMA QUE
UNO APRENDE.
The Present Perfect Tense
This tense has the name “Present” but it has many uses and it is sometimes confusing.
Today we are going to study the first use which is for ‘EXPERIENCES”.
The Past Participle form of the verbs
To form the present perfect tense we need to learn a new form of the verb. This is called
the past participle.
Regular verbs
When you want to form the past participle of regular verbs, it is the same as the past
tense “played”where we add “ed” to the base form.
Examples:
CHART #1
Verb Past form Past Particple
Work Worked Worked
Talk Talked Talked
 Study Studied Studied
Stay Stayed Stayed
Watch Watched watched
List of complete regular verbs (enlace con lista completa de verbos regulares):
http://www.englishclub.com/vocabulary/regular-verbs-list.htm
Irregular verbs
The irregular form of the verbs in past participle change and you have to learn them
with practice.
CHART #2
Verb Past form Past Particple
be Was/were been
eat ate eaten
go went gone
buy bought bought
ride Rode ridden
write wrote written
List of complete irregular verbs (enlace con la lista completa de verbos
irregulares):
http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/irregular-verbs/
The Present Perfect – STRUCTURE / SYNTAX
Positive form
SUBJECT + [HAVE / HAS + PAST PARTICIPLE] + COMPLEMENT
CHART #3
Subject Auxiliary Past Participle Complement
I/we/you/they have been to Brazil
He/She/It has Eaten Sushi
Negative form
SUBJECT + [HAVEN'T / HASN'T + PAST PARTICIPLE] + COMPLEMENT
CHAR T#4
Subject Auxiliary Past Participle Complement
I/we/you/they haven’t been to Brazil
He/She/It hasn’t eaten Sushi
Question form
Question word + [HAVE / HAS + SUBJECT + PAST PARTICIPLE] +
COMPLEMENT
CHART #5
Question Word Auxiliary Subject Past Participle Complement
What countries have I/we/you/they been to?
——————— Has He/she/it eaten Sushi?
Contractions:
He/she/it + has = he’s/she’s/it’s
I/we/you/they + have = I’ve/we’ve/you’ve/they’ve
Short Answers (Yes/no answers)
CHART #6
Positive Negative
Yes, I/we/you/they have No. I/we/you/they haven’t
Yes, he/she/it has No, he/she/it hasn’t

USE of the Perfect Tense

In this class we are going to learn the first use of the present perfect. REMEMBER that
there are other uses and we will study these in the pre-intermediate level.
We use the present perfect tense to talk about: AN INDEFINITE TIME
IN THE PAST: “EXPERIENCES“
When we want to talk about an experience we can use the present perfect tense. An
“experience” is something that happened in the time but WE DO NOT KNOW WHEN.
Let’s look at the chart.
CHART #7

To emphasize this use of the present perfect we use the word “ever”. More examples:
- Have you ever been to Peru?
In this question we are asking for information about his life experience. We DO NOT
CARE or WANT TO KNOW WHEN. It is a question without a definite point in the
past.
- I have been to Mexico three times.
We say that in our life we went to Mexico but we DO NOT SAY WHEN.
- Has Laura ever eaten Paella?
We want to know if Laura has eaten paella once in her life. WE DO NOT WANT TO
KNOW WHEN.
*** ¿Cuando usamos el present perfect? El present perfect se usa para describir
acciones que pasaron antes y sin decir cuando. Es un tiempo indefinido del pasado y se
usa para expresar experiencias sin determinar el tiempo en que se dieron. Esto es muy
util ya que la pueden usar para pedir informacion en general. “Ever” se utiliza para
emfatizar este uso.
Present Perfect vs Past Simple
As we have seen, we can talk about the past with present perfect but we need to learn
the differences with the past simple tense.
Present Perfect : Indefinite time in the past
Past Simple: Definite time in the past
Maria has been to Spain (Present Perfect: we do not know when)
Maria went to Spain last year (Past simple: A definite time “last year” other phrases:
three days ago, last week, yesterday etc.)
*** Como sabemos, tambien podemos usar el past simple para hablar del pasado pero
es cuando es un tiempo definido; es decir, un tiempo exacto. Ya en pre-intermedio
ampiaremos este tema
Ejercicios y refuerzo:
Hacer los siguientes ejercicios (las respuestan estan en el audio)

Enlaces y links:
Muy buen enlace listo para imprimir que explica de otra forma el Present Perfect
http://www.headsupenglish.com/skillbuilders/grammar/presentperfectexperience.pdf
Ejercicios para practicar el present perfect
http://www.headsupenglish.com/skillbuilders/grammar/haveyoueverdrills.pdf
Apuntes del uso de “ever”