The present perfect is a grammatical combination of the present tense and perfect aspect that is used to express a past event that has present consequences. The term is used particularly in the context of English grammar to refer to forms like "I have finished". The forms are present because they use the present tense of the auxiliary verb have, and perfect because they use that auxiliary in combination with the past participle of the main verb. (Other perfect constructions also exist, such as the past perfect: "I had eaten.") Analogous forms are found in some other languages, and they may also be described as present perfect; they often have other names such as the German Perfekt, the French passé composé and the Italian passato prossimo. They may also have different ranges of usage: in all three of the languages just mentioned, the forms in question serve as a general past tense, at least for completed actions. In English, completed actions in many contexts are referred to using the simple past verb form rather than the present perfect. English also has a present perfect continuous (or present perfect progressive) form, which combines present tense with both perfect aspect and continuous (progressive) aspect: "I have been eating". The action is not necessarily complete; and the same is true of certain uses of the basic present perfect when the verb expresses a state or a habitual action: "I have lived here for five years."
Auxiliaries In modern English, the auxiliary verb used to form the present perfect is always to have. A typical present perfect clause thus consists of the subject, the auxiliary have/has, and the past participle (third form) of main verb. Examples:
I have done so much in my life. You have gone to school. He has already arrived in America. He has had child after child... (The Mask of Anarchy, Percy Shelley) Lovely tales that we have heard or read... (Endymion, John Keats) Early Modern English used both to have and to be as perfect auxiliaries. The usage differs in that to have expressed emphasis in the process of the action that was completed, whereas to be put the emphasis in the final state after the action is completed. Examples of the second can be found in older texts:
Madam, the Lady Valeria is come to visit you. (The Tragedy of Coriolanus, Shakespeare) Vext the dim sea: I am become a name... (Ulysses, Tennyson) I am become Time, destroyer of worlds. (Bhagavad Gita) Pillars are fallen at thy feet... (Marius amid the Ruins of Carthage, Lydia Maria Child) I am come in sorrow. (Lord Jim, Conrad) I am come in my Father's name, and ye receive me not (John 5:43, The Bible) In many other European languages, the equivalent of to have (e.g. German haben, French avoir, Italian avere) is used to form the present perfect (or their equivalent of the present perfect) for most or all verbs. However, the equivalent of to be (e.g. German sein, French être, Italian essere) serves as the auxiliary for other verbs in some languages, such as German, Dutch, Danish (but not Swedish or Norwegian), French, and Italian (but not Spanish or Portuguese). Generally, the verbs that take to be as an auxiliary are intransitive verbs denoting motion or change of state (e.g. to arrive, to go, to fall). For more details, see Perfect construction with auxiliaries.
English The present perfect in English is used chiefly for completed past actions or events when it is understood that it is the present result of the events that is focused upon, rather than the moment of completion. No particular past time frame is specified for the action/event. When a past time frame (a point of time in the past, or period of time which ended in the past) is specified for the event, explicitly or implicitly, the simple past is used rather than the present perfect. The tense may be said to be a sort of mixture of present and past. It always implies a strong connection with the present and is used chiefly in conversations, letters, newspapers and TV and radio reports. It can also be used for ongoing or habitual situations continuing up to the present time (generally not completed, but the present time may be the moment of completion). That usage describes for how long or since when something has been the case, normally based on time expressions with for or since (such as for two years, since 1995). Then, the present perfect continuous form is often used, if a continuing action is being described. For examples, see Uses of English verb forms § Present perfect as well as the sections of that article relating to the simple past, present perfect continuous, and other perfect forms.
German Modern German has lost its perfect aspect in the present tense. The present perfect form implies the perfective aspect and colloquially usually replaces the simple past (except in the verb sein 'to be'), but the simple past still is frequently used in non-colloquial and/or narrative registers. The present perfect form is often called in German the "conversational past" while the simple past is often called the "narrative past". In Standard German, the sein-vs-haben distinction includes the intransitive-+-motion idea for sein ('to be') usage but is independent of the reflexive-voice difference when forming the Perfekt.
Ich habe gegessen ('I have eaten') Du bist gekommen ('You have come', literally 'you are come.') Sie sind gefallen ('They have fallen', literally 'they are fallen.') Sie ist geschwommen ('She has swum', literally, 'she is swum.') Du hast dich beeilt ('You have hurried', literally 'You have yourself hurried')
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