The Present Perfect Simple Tense How to form the present perfect The present perfect of any verb is composed of two elements : the appropriate form of the auxiliary verb to have (present tense), plus the past participle of the main verb. The past participle of a regular verb is base+ed, e.g. played, arrived, looked. For irregular verbs, see the Table of irregular here THE PRESENT PERFECT IS USED TO DESCRIBE · An action or situation that started in the past and continues to the present. I have lived in Bristol since 1984 (= and I still do.) · An action performed during a period that has not yet finished. She has been to the cinema twice this week (= the week isn't over yet.) · A repeated action in an unspecified period between the past and now. ...