The Present Simple and The Present Perfect Simple

As requested by Joan Carla Deseles from our Facebook page, today we are going to explain when “I’ve, you’ve, she’s…” is used in a sentence.

It can be used as the present simple such, for example: “She’s a girl“,

Or as the present perfect, “She’s been to the pizzeria”

So today we are going to look at the present simple and the present perfect. Both are abbreviated in the same way, but they are very different tenses!

Present Simple of the verb To Have

The present simple is used in permanent or long-lastings situations (facts) and to talk about things which are generally true. For example:

“The sun sets in the west.” – This is a fact so we must use the present simple.

“I get up at eight in the morning.”  – This is usually true so we use the present simple.

“The plane leaves at 11p.m.”  – We use the present simple here because it is a schedule so should always be true.

We often use the following prepositions with the present simple:

usually
always
often
sometimes
on (days of the week)
seldom
never
on occasion
rarely
at weekends

Present Perfect Simple

We use the present perfect for actions which happened at an unspecified time before the present. It is not important that we don’t know the exact time because the present perfect simple is unspecific. For example:
“I’ve been to Germany.”
“Julia’s studied two foreign languages.”
“We’ve always travelled by car.”

For more information, check this website, it has a lot of information on the present perfect simple to help you understand the tense more in-depth. It also has exercises for you to practice!