Forming the Present Perfect Tense

Negative

The present perfect tense is common in English. It is used for many different functions. This page will explain the rules for forming the tense with regular and irregular verbs.

Forming the present perfect tense

This tense is formed using three components: the verb HAVE (in the present tense), the negative component NOT ,and the past participle form of a verb. With a regular verb the past participle ends with -ED (just like the simple past). Irregular verbs have a special past participle form that you have to learn. Here are the rules, using the regular verb "arrive" and the irregular verb "eat":
Subject
HAVE
NOT
Past Participle
I
have
not
arrived
eaten
You
have
not
arrived
eaten
He
has
not
arrived
eaten
She
has
not
arrived
eaten
It
has
not
arrived
eaten
We
have
not
arrived
eaten
They
have
not
arrived
eaten

Contracted form

Note that the auxiliary verb and NOT may be contracted: "I have not" become "I haven't become", "She has not" become "She hasn't become", and so on. Also note that you can't say: "I've not worked. The only possible contraction is between the auxiliary verb and NOT.

Subject
HAVEN'T
Past Participle
I
haven't
arrived
gone
You
haven't
washed
seen
He
hasn't
called
been
She
hasn't
arrived
eaten
It
hasn't
rained
eaten
We
haven't
ordered
forgotten
They
haven't
locked
had




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