Present perfect simple or continuous

Present perfect – use

We use just for actions that happened a very short time ago.

We also use the present perfect simple with the words already and yet.

Experiences (never, ever, before)

To talk about past experiences when we don’t say when something happened.

We often use the words never, ever, or before to talk about experiences.

How much we have done of something, or how many times we have done something

To talk about how much of something we have done or how many times we have done something (none, one, two, three, etc.) up to now.

The best thing I’ve ever done

We can use the present perfect simple with the superlative and ever.

Actions from the past till now (how long, for, since, lately, all day/morning, etc.)

We use the present perfect simple with stative verbs, like be, know, have, etc., to talk about situations that started in the past and still continue. We normally use expressions like how long, for, since, lately, all day, etc.

Uses of the present perfect continuous

Present perfect continuous – Use

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Actions from the past till now (how long, for, since, lately, all day/morning, etc.)

We use the present perfect continuous with dynamic verbs to talk about situations that started in the past and still continue or have just finished, and often have present results.

To express duration, we often use words like how long, for, since, lately, all day, etc.

We can use the present perfect continuous for either continuous or repeated actions from the past till now.

Present perfect simple or continuous?

Situations that started in the past and still continue

We can use either the present perfect simple or continuous for situations that started in the past and still continue. But we must use the present perfect simple with stative verbs, and we normally use the present perfect continuous with dynamic verbs (although the present perfect simple is also possible.)

We use the present perfect continuous with dynamic verbs to describe situations that started in the past and still continue when we want to emphasise how long the situation has lasted.

Finished and unfinished situations

We use the present perfect simple to talk about finished actions in the past and the present perfect continuous to describe situations (happening from the past till now) that may or may not have finished.

Actions with present results

We can use both present perfect simple or continuous for recent actions with a present result, but we use the present perfect simple when the present results come from having finished the action, and we use the present perfect continuous when the present results come from the process of performing the action (which may or may not have finished).

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