English (United Kingdom)Italian - Italy
Home EP Free Lessons Intermediate Past Perfect Tense Present Perfect vs Past Perfect

Intermediate - Present Perfect vs Past Perfect

Friday, 04 December 2009 11:16

English grammar lesson on-line for intermediate level students - A comparison between Present Perfect and Past Perfect.

Present Perfect

We use the Present Perfect Simple for an action or a state that began in the past and is connected with the present i.e. The action still continuous now or there is a result in the present from the action.
• The house is dirty. They haven't cleaned it for weeks.
• We aren't hungry. We've just had lunch.


We use the Present Perfect Continuous to show an action or a state that started in the past and has continued up until now with duration.



• I hope the bus comes soon. I've been waiting for 25 minutes.


• She's out of breath. She has been running .

Past Perfect

We use the Past Perfect Simple to express a completed action in the past before another action in the past.
• The house was dirty. They hadn't cleaned it for weeks.
• We weren't hungry. We'd just had lunch.


We use the Past Perfect Continuous for emphasizes a duration of an action which happened before another in the past.



• At last the bus came. I'd been waiting for 25 minutes.


She was out of breath. She had been running.

- The Past Perfect Continuous gives past activities time and duration.

- In the Present Perfect Continuous the action began in the past and continues to the present.

Last modified on Wednesday, 10 March 2010 14:10