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El "present perfect" se emplea para señalar un vínculo entre el presente y el pasado. El tiempo en que
transcurre la acción es anterior al presente pero inespecífico y, a menudo, recae un mayor interés sobre el
resultado que sobre la propia acción.
El "present perfect" se utiliza para describir:
Una acción o situación iniciada en el pasado y que continúa en el presente. I have lived in Bristol since 1984
(= todavía vivo allí.)
Una acción realizada durante un periodo de tiempo aún no concluido. Shehas been to the cinema twice this
week (= la semana todavía no ha terminado.)
Una acción repetida en un periodo temporal inespecífico situado entre el pasado y el presente. We have
visited Portugal several times.
El "present perfect" de cualquier verbo está compuesto por dos elementos: la forma apropiada del verbo
auxiliar to have (en presente) y el "past participle" del verbo principal.
Subject + To have (has, has not, have not) + verb (ed) past participle .
Complete the conversation with the correct tense.
Margo: Yeah, I
(did / have)
on Saturday.
(went / have gone)
the sea snails.
(I had I I've had)
Margo: Then _
I _________ _ swimming around 6:00,
(went I have gone}
but there were some strange dark shadows in the water.
-
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - of sharks at Sunrise Beach?
(Did you ever hear I Have you ever heard)
Chris: Yes,_ _ _ _ _ _ _ ._
I _____ _ a news report about sharks last summer.
(I did / I have) (heard / have heard)
D ride a motorcycle
D go horseback riding
D cook for over 1 0 people
D eat raw fish
D go to a classical musi c concert
[Z] have green tea ice cream
D read a novel in English
D take a cruise
D travel abroad
D try Indian food
□ - - - - -
□ - - - - - - - - -
□ - - - - --
□ -----------
B Write questions about the things you checked in part A. Use Have you ever . . . ?
3. -----------------------------------
4. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
5. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
C Answer the questions you wrote in part B. Then use the past tense to give more information.
3. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --
4. -------------------------------------
5. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - --
Present perfect continuous
El "present perfect continuous" se refiere a un periodo temporal inespecífico situado entre el pasado y el
presente. El hablante se refiere a algo que empezó y que puede no haber concluido en ese periodo de
tiempo. Le interesa tanto el proceso como el resultado, y es posible que dicho proceso acabe de terminar o
que aún no haya finalizado.
• Acciones que acaban de concluir y de las que nos interesan sus resultados:
She has been cooking since last night (= y la comida preparada tiene un aspecto delicioso).
It's been raining (= y las calles aún están mojadas).
Someone's been eating my chips (= quedan la mitad).
El pasado perfecto en inglés (past perfect) es un tiempo verbal que se utiliza para expresar una acción que ocurrió
antes que otra acción pasada. Por ejemplo: When I arrived at the party, Emma had left. / Cuando llegué a la fiesta,
Emma se había ido.
El pasado perfecto en inglés equivale al pretérito pluscuamperfecto en español (había ido, había dicho). Al igual que
en español, el past perfect se utiliza en relación a otro tiempo pasado para expresar anterioridad. Por ejemplo: I
didn’t want to see the play (pasado), because I had already seen it (pasado anterior). / No quise ver la obra, porque
ya la había visto.
El pasado perfecto en inglés (past perfect) es un tiempo verbal compuesto que se forma con el auxiliar had+ past
participle (participio del verbo principal). El auxiliar had es el mismo para todos los pronombres.
Expresar que una acción ocurrió antes que otra acción pasada. Por ejemplo: I didn’t go to the museum because I had
visited it twice before. / No fui al museo porque ya lo había visitado dos veces anteriormente.
Contar una historia o narración en un orden distinto al cronológico. Por ejemplo: When we arrived home last night,
thieves had broken into. / Cuando llegamos anoche a casa, los ladrones habían entrado a robar. (la segunda acción
mencionada había ocurrido antes que la primera).
En relación a otro verbo en past simple (pasado simple) que fue mencionado antes o que está implícito en el
contexto. Por ejemplo: I had already seen the movie (before this time). / Ya había visto la película (antes de esta
vez).
Past Perfect and Past Perfect Continuous
Affirmative: I had done / You had done / He/she/it had done / We had done / You had done
(plural) / They had done
Negative: I had not done / You had not done / He/she/it had not done / We had not done /
You had not done / They had not done
Question: Had I done? / Had you done? / Had he/she/it done? / Had we done? / Had you
done? / Had they done?
We use the past perfect simple to talk about what happened before a point in the past. It looks back
from a point in the past to further in the past.
• I hadn't known the bad news when I spoke to him.
• I checked with the supplier and they still hadn't received the contract.
• She had already told him before I got a chance to give him my version.
• The company has started the year well but was badly hit by the postal strike.
The past perfect simple is often used when we report what people had said/thought/believed.
• He told me they had already paid the bill.
• He said he believed that John had moved to Italy.
• I thought we had already decided on a name for this product.
Affirmative: I had been doing / You had been doing / He/she/it had been doing / We had
been doing / You had been doing (pl.) / They had been doing
Negative: I had not been doing / You had not been doing / He/she/it had not been doing /
We had not been doing / You had not been doing / They had not been doing
Question: Had I been doing? / Had you been doing? / Had he/she/it been doing? / Had we
been doing? / Had you been doing? / Had they been doing?
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Answers Exercise 1
1. After I had posted the letter, I realised that I had written the wrong address on it
2. John asked me where I had been the day before.
3. At this time yesterday, we had already been walking for 6 km
4. When I was walking through the streets of Madrid, I thought about the magnificent time I had
spent there as a student.
5. It was the first time that she had invited me to dinner.
6. As soon as the maid had finished scrubbing the kitchen floor, she started working in
the garden.
7. We started to worry about Jimmy because we had been calling him all afternoon.
8. They had already made their way out of town before the sun rose.
9. We had been driving for two hours when we finally got to our hotel.
10. When I arrived home, I saw that the children had already left.
11. While I was working in the garden it struck me that I hadn't turned off the oven.
12. I invited my best friend to the party, but he couldn't come because he had already made other
plans.
13. I looked out of the window because I thought I had heard some noises.
14. We were watching TV when we saw that a devastating earthquake had hit California.
15. The police told me that someone had broken into our neighbour's house.
16. When I finally arrived at the airport, he told me that he had been waiting for half an hour.
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