Present Perfect Tense

The present perfect links the present and the past.

The time of the action is before now but not specified.

We are often more interested in the result than in the action itself.

THE PRESENT PERFECT IS USED TO DESCRIBE:

(1) An action that started in the past and continues in the present. 

     I have lived in Jerusalem since 1970. (= and I still do.)                                They haven’t lived here for years.

     She has worked in the bank for five years.

     We have had the same car for ten years.

     Have you played the piano since you were a child?

THE PRESENT PERFECT IS USED TO DESCRIBE:

(2) An action done during a period that has not yet finished. 

She has been to the cinema twice this week. (= and the week isn’t over yet.)

I have worked hard this week.

It has rained a lot this year.

We haven’t seen her today.

THE PRESENT PERFECT IS USED TO DESCRIBE:

(3) A repeated action in an unspecified period between the past and now. 

We have visited Jordan several times.

They have heard that song six times.

It has happened several times already.

She has visited them frequently.

We have eaten at that restaurant many times.

THE PRESENT PERFECT IS USED TO DESCRIBE:

(4) An action that was completed in the very recent past, expressed by ‘just’. 

I have just finished my work.

Have you just finished work?

I have just eaten.

We have just seen her.

Has he just left?

THE PRESENT PERFECT IS USED TO DESCRIBE:

(5) An action when the time is not important. 

He has read ‘War and Peace’. (= the result of his reading is important)

Someone has eaten my soup!

Have you seen ‘Gone with the Wind’?

She’s studied Japanese, Russian, and English.