Present perfect tense

Use this tense when you want to talk about something that has either:

happened now and been completed, or
started in the past, continued into the present, and been finished:

I have run.

This could either mean that, just now, I ran a couple of metres. Or it could mean that I started running several hours ago and have only just finished now. When the present perfect tense is used, it is often paired with some other event that is happening now as a result:

I have run, so I am pretty tired.

‘Have run’ is a present perfect tense verb. ‘I am’ is a simple present tense verb. ‘Have run’ implies that I have been running, that I just finished now, and that, as a result, I am currently a little bit exhausted.

Click here to move on to the next topic: Present perfect progressive tense