Hi!
My name's Connie.
And this is New York in Slow English.
I had a request not too long ago from a subscriber to please explain the present perfect tense.
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Last week I went out to lunch with my husband, and also with a friend of his who was visiting
New York City.
We met inside the Flatiron Building.
The Flatiron Building is a very famous building in New York City.
It's known for its very peculiar shape.
Tourists come to New York and they love to take pictures of this building.
But, very rarely do you get to go inside.
And when you are inside, it has a fantastic view of the Empire State Building
and Madison Square Park.
While I was talking to my husband and his friend, I noticed that we were using this
tense a lot.
So, I made a quick video.
We'll analyze it together so that you can see exactly how this tense works.
I've worked here for 21 years.
Alright, let's start with this simple sentence.
He's talking about the past, right?
He's talking about 21 years.
However, it's a little bit different than just talking about the past because in fact,
he is still working there.
So, it's the past, but it's all the way up until now, and really, it's going into the
future, too.
He will be working there, I don't know how many more years.
The present perfect is formed by using the word "have" or "has" plus a past participle
of the main verb.
Now, in a regular verb, we form the past participle by adding -ed or sometimes -d to the end of
the end of the verb.
But, beware!
There are many, many irregular past participles, and you must memorize them.
We went to school together many years ago.
We went to college together.
Here, he uses the simple past tense.
We went to school together.
This is because this is something that happened in the past.
It's over.
It's done.
It's completed.
They are never going to go to school together again.
It's completely done, in the past.
I haven't seen Kyle since Colorado, 2 years ago.
He follows this by saying, "I haven't seen Kyle".
Now, in this case he uses the present perfect tense because even though he's talking about
the past, it's affecting the current situation because we're standing there looking at Kyle.
We are seeing Kyle, right now.
So, you can see how with this tense something subtle is happening here when you use this
tense.
He's giving us a clue here that somehow this past thing of not seeing each other is different
now.
That somehow it's affecting the current situation.
How long have you been here?
Let's review quickly the question form.
We start with the question word "how long", followed by "have" or "has", followed by the
subject, "you", followed by the past participle "been".
How long have you been here?
I asked this question using the present perfect tense because even though he came here in
the past, he came here a few days ago, which is in the past, he is still here now.
So, I'm using this present perfect tense to indicate that I know he came here in the past,
but that he is still here in the present.
I've been here since Friday.
So, I've been here for 3 days.
"Since" and "for" are 2 words that you will often hear used with the present perfect tense.
We use "since" plus the beginning of the period of time that we're talking about.
And we use "for" plus the whole period of time that we're talking about.
So, "since" has the start, and "for" has the whole range of time that we're talking about.
And I've already seen most of the sights that I needed to see.
And I've also already seen my niece who is in college here.
When we use the word "already", it means that something has happened sooner than we expected.
Notice the placement of the word.
We start with "have" or "has", plus "already", plus the past participle.
I had a very good time.
I was the total tourist.
I have been to a play - Come From Away, which is fantastic.
I have been to Williamsburg.
I've ridden a ferry.
I've walked the Highline.
I've had some bad Italian food in Little Italy, and some very, very good food at a place called
Meadowsweet.
Here, he's making a list.
And, he's showing a period of time that started from when he first got to New York, and it's
continuing all the way up until right now when we're heading out to lunch.
His use of the present perfect tense here indicates to me that he believes that he still
is going to do some more things after lunch.
This is where this tense adds something really interesting to the language because he could
have used the past tense.
And the past tense would be correct here.
But, by using the present perfect tense he's saying something more to me.
He's saying that these good times are still happening, and that he's going to do more.
Without telling me in words, but by telling me through the tense he's selected, he's giving
me a clue to what is going on inside his head.
He's giving me a clue about his attitude about the rest of the day.
English is sometimes not that subtle of a language, so it's really interesting when
people do this.
And it makes the tense a really beautiful thing.
Later that afternoon I went to a store to get something for my son who lives out in
California.
And I met this really great guy who helped me out.
When he went on his break, I asked him a few questions.
Hey Jory, how's it going?
It's going great.
You look like you're really into fashion.
I've been into fashion since I was a teenager.
Here's our friend "since" again.
Notice that he didn't use the word with a year, or with a month, or some time marker
that we're used to hearing.
Instead, he used it with an independent clause.
But it still marks the beginning of a time period.
Now, I've just gone on my break.
We use the word "just" when we want to say that something has happened a very short time
ago.
This is very similar to the word "already".
Notice how we place it in between the word "have" or "has" and the past participle.
What have you been doing today?
Here, I'm still using the present perfect tense, but I've gone into using the continuous
present perfect.
Oh boy!
Why did I do this?
It's because in this case I'm really asking him to talk about an activity.
I'm asking him to describe the activity of what he was doing that day.
When we talk about an activity, or if we talk about a process, very often we go into the
continuous tense, or continuous point of view.
So, for example, right now, I am teaching you a lesson.
You are listening to me.
We are learning English together.
We are doing this activity, and when I describe it, I would use a continuous tense.
Now the same thing happens even when you're using a present perfect tense.
You can still use the continuous point of view of it.
So, in this case I asked him, "What have you been doing?"
I've been listening to music.
He answered me in the continuous present progressive.
So, let's figure out, what is he trying to say to me?
If he had said to me, "I listened to music," that would say to me that he worked this morning.
He's done with work.
While he was at work, he listened to some music.
It's over and done.
If he said, "I've listened to music", that would say to me more that he's focusing on
the music part of the sentence.
So, he's listening to music, but maybe this afternoon maybe he would listen to something
else.
When he answered, "I've been listening to music", that says to me that we are focusing
on the process, or on the activity of listening to music.
This is where this tense gets really difficult.
That is a pretty subtle and advanced distinction.
But you will run into this.
When did you get to work?
I came at 11.
But I've been working for about 4 1/2 hours.
OK.
Here we go again with another continuous present perfect.
He uses it here because he's describing an activity.
OK.
So before we quit for the day, let's look at how we actually create this continuous
present perfect tense.
We begin with "has been" or "have been".
Then we add the present participle.
Now present participles are very easy to make.
They're just the bast part of the verb, plus -ing.
Remember, this beautiful tense is giving you a clue about what somebody is thinking or
feeling.
They're talking about the past, but they're indicating that somehow this has something
to do with the present.
I hope you've enjoyed this.
And I'll see you next time on New York in Slow English.