English Learning

Everyday Phrases & Grammar – Perfect Tenses

October 25, 2025

💬 EVERYDAY PHRASES & GRAMMAR – PERFECT TENSES

🗨️ Dialogue – A Trip to Kent

Mrs Glass: Are you ready, children?
All: Just a minute! Some of us can’t put all the things into the rucksacks.
Mrs Glass: Sam, have you taken the compass?
Sam: Yes, of course. Here it is.
Mrs Glass: Children, don’t forget your things on the floor.
Willy: Oh yes! I can’t wait any more. Let’s go!
Mrs Glass: Let’s hurry up! At six p.m. we shall settle by the river. We must go seven miles today.
Sam: Shall we put up tents there?
Mrs Glass: Certainly.
Willy: When shall we reach the hop gardens?
Mrs Glass: I think late in the afternoon.
Sam: It’s wonderful! I really have never worked in the hop gardens.
Tim: So have I.
Mrs Glass: This autumn is rich in hop harvest. After the work we shall come back to our camp, make a fire and have a rest.

🧠 Grammar – Perfect Tenses

Perfect tenses show the connection of actions in time:
a completed action before now, before another past action, or before a future moment.

Tense Structure Example Meaning
Present Perfect have/has + V3 Ted has bought a new car. Result visible now
Past Perfect had + V3 The tourists had not reached the peak. Action before another past action
Future Perfect shall/will have + V3 By 2025 they will have finished the project. Action completed before a future time

💬 Present Perfect – Key Points

  • Form: have/has + past participle (V3)
  • Negatives: have/has + not + V3
  • Questions: Have/Has + subject + V3

Examples:

  • Have Emily and her mother had dinner already?
  • Ted has bought a new car.
  • I haven’t finished my homework yet.

💭 Idiom

Third time lucky.
Trečias kartas nemeluoja.

🗣️ Vocabulary

English Pronunciation Lithuanian
happiness /ˈhæpɪnəs/ laimė
compass /ˈkɒmpəs/ kompasas
rucksack /ˈrʌksæk/ kuprinė
hurry up /ˈhʌri/ paskubėk
put up – pastatyti (palapinę)
camp /kæmp/ stovykla

Exercises

Exercise 1Fill in the blanks (Present Perfect)

Complete the sentences using the Present Perfect form of the verbs in brackets.

  1. Sam __ (take) the compass.
  2. We __ (not / reach) the hop gardens yet.
  3. I __ (never / work) in the hop gardens before.
  4. Mrs Glass __ (prepare) everything for the trip.
  5. The children __ (forget) their things on the floor.
View as JSON

Exercise 2Choose the correct answer

Choose the correct answer.

  1. Present Perfect is formed with:

    • a) have/has + V3
    • b) had + V3
    • c) shall have + V3

  2. “He has finished his work” means:

    • a) He finished it long ago.
    • b) The work is finished now.
    • c) He will finish it tomorrow.

  3. The question form is:

    • a) Has he finished?
    • b) Finished he has?
    • c) He has finished?
View as JSON

Exercise 3True or False

Mark the sentences as True (T) or False (F).

  1. Perfect tenses use the verb “to have.”
  2. “Have you seen him?” is in Past Perfect.
  3. Future Perfect uses “will have + V3.”
  4. Present Perfect means action finished now.
  5. Past Perfect shows action before another past event.
View as JSON

Exercise 4Match the pairs

Match the sentences with the correct tense.

Sentence Tense
Ted has bought a car. Present Perfect
They had arrived before dinner. Past Perfect
We will have finished by 2025. Future Perfect
Have you seen the film? Present Perfect
By the time I came, he had left. Past Perfect
View as JSON

Exercise 5Complete the sentences

Fill in the correct auxiliary verbs (have / has / had / will have).

  1. I __ never seen such a beautiful camp before.
  2. She __ already packed her rucksack.
  3. They __ reached the top before sunset.
  4. We __ finished the work by next week.
  5. Sam __ taken the compass with him.
View as JSON

Exercise 6Rewrite into the correct tense

Rewrite the sentences using the correct perfect tense.

  1. (Past) We finish our project. →
  2. (Present) She read this book. →
  3. (Future) They complete the task by 6 p.m. →
  4. (Present) He never visit Kent. →
  5. (Past) They eat before they left. →
View as JSON

Exercise 7Fill with time expressions

Complete the sentences using already, just, or yet.

  1. Have you finished your homework __?
  2. I have __ come back from Kent.
  3. She has __ packed her things.
  4. We haven’t left the camp __.
  5. They have __ seen the hop gardens.
View as JSON

Exercise 8Short answers

Answer briefly.

  1. Have you ever been camping?
  2. Has Sam taken the compass?
  3. Have the children forgotten anything?
  4. Had you finished your lunch before class?
  5. Will you have completed your work by evening?
View as JSON

Exercise 9Identify the tense

Read the sentences and write which tense it is (Present Perfect, Past Perfect, or Future Perfect).

  1. He has gone to London.
  2. They had built the house before 1990.
  3. We will have travelled by that time.
  4. Have you ever seen this film?
  5. By Monday, she will have sent the letter.
View as JSON

Exercise 10Writing task

Write 5–6 sentences about something you have done, had done, or will have done.
Use at least one example of each tense: Present Perfect, Past Perfect, and Future Perfect.

Back to all lessons