The Present Perfect vs The Present Perfect Continuous | ALL differences ( Free PDF & Quiz)

[Music] hello everyone and welcome back to english with lucy today i have got a grammar lesson for you we are going to be looking at two very similar and confusing tenses i know that a lot of my students struggle with these take a look at these two sentences i have lived in england for three years i have been living in england for three years do they mean the same thing today we are looking at the present perfect and the present perfect continuous in some situations they mean the same thing and in other situations they mean

different things there's a lot to cover in this lesson but i want to let you know that to further help your understanding and your learning journey i have created a free pdf that goes with this lesson it's got everything we're going to cover and it's got a quiz so you can check your understanding if you would like to receive this pdf and quiz for free all you've got to do is click on the link in the description box you enter your name and your email address you sign up to my mailing list and i send

the pdf and quiz directly to your inbox and then because you're signed up to my mailing list every week you will receive my lesson pdf and quiz as soon as it becomes available it's automatic and convenient we use the present perfect and the present perfect continuous for both finished and unfinished actions let's take a quick look at how we form them before we start comparing them so the present perfect is have has plus the past participle i have worked the negative have and has plus not plus the past participle i have not worked and as

a question have or has plus the subject plus the past participle have i worked now let's take a look at how we form the present perfect continuous the positive is has or has plus bean plus verb ing i have been working the negative we just put in a not has or have not been verb ing i have not been working and as a question we have has or have plus subject plus being plus a verb ing have i been working it's important to note that we cannot use the present perfect continuous with stative verbs stative

verbs don't refer to a physical action they express something that is permanent they express a state or a condition to like to love to believe to know to understand you can say i've known her for years you cannot say i've been knowing her for years you can say i've been here for a while you cannot say i've been being here for a while just so that's clear we can use the present perfect and the present perfect continuous to talk about actions unfinished actions that started in the past and are still true now we often use

them with since and for i have lived in england for three years i have been studying english since 2003. i've been studying english since 2017 now sometimes especially with the verbs study live and work there is no real difference in meaning between the two i've lived in england for three years i've been living in england for three years they mean the same thing i've studied english since 2017. i've been studying english since 2017. again they mean the same thing she has worked here for six months she has been working here for six months once again

they mean the same thing so i hope that clears up some of your doubts unfortunately sometimes there is a difference in meaning between these two tenses the present perfect and the present perfect continuous i'm going to discuss four situations where there is a difference in meaning number one the present perfect continuous can be used to emphasize the amount or length of time that has passed whereas the present perfect is generally neutral it might sound complicated but take a look at these two sentences she's been working for hours she has worked for hours she's been working

shows more emphasis about the hours that have passed it's a very subtle difference but it's there the second situation the present perfect is commonly used to talk about how much or how many but this is impossible with the present perfect continuous let me show you she has eaten three pieces of toast this morning that sentence is perfectly fine let's try it with the present perfect continuous she has been eating three pieces of toast this morning it doesn't work you can't use it he's drunk seven cups of coffee this morning i hope not poor guy you

cannot say he has been drinking seven cups of coffee this morning it has to be the present perfect when talking about how much or how many let's take a look at the third situation the present perfect continuous often focuses on the action itself whereas the present perfect focuses on the completion of the action again it's much easier to see this written out than to listen to an explanation so i'll give you some examples take a look at these two sentences i've been watching the tv series you recommended i've watched the tv series you recommended with

the first one i've been watching i'm showing that i am still watching it i haven't finished the action yet whereas with the second one i've watched i'm telling you that i have finished watching it sometimes it's not quite as obvious she's been seeing a therapist she's seen a therapist with she's been seeing it implies that her treatment is ongoing she's still seeing that therapist she's seen a therapist means she's seen one and now she may have stopped seeing one or her treatment has ended another thing to note is that with the present perfect we can

use yet and already i know lots of you struggle with four since yet and already we've discussed for and since now yet and already i have seen the film already or i've already seen the film you can put already at the end or you can put it between have or has and the participle i have already seen a common mistake that i hear is i have seen already the film that doesn't we would understand you but it doesn't quite sound right and yet this goes at the end have you seen the film yet no i

haven't seen it yet you can put yet between have has and the participle i haven't yet seen it but it sounds quite old-fashioned i haven't yet gone i haven't yet seen it it sounds nice it sounds very formal and old-fashioned like you'd read in an old book in the question form it doesn't sound right at all have you yet seen the film no don't use that sometimes we use the difference between the present perfect and the present perfect continuous to talk about different kinds of results in the present again it's much easier to see this

in an example so i will provide those i've done all of my chores so i can come out tonight we use the present perfect when the result comes from the action being finished i can come out tonight because i've finished my chores it's completed i've been doing my chores so i'm exhausted we use the present perfect continuous when the result comes from doing the action itself i am exhausted from carrying out all of my chores another example i've prepared a big dinner so you can come over i've been preparing a big dinner so all of

my pans are dirty my pans are dirty as a result of the preparation but you can come over because i finished preparing the dinner in the first example with the present perfect you can come over because i've finished preparing my dinner in the second example with the present perfect continuous all of my pans are dirty because of the preparation of my dinner the action of doing it finally we can use the present perfect continuous to talk about situations that aren't permanent things that are not usual i've been sleeping badly i don't normally sleep badly but

recently i've been sleeping badly normally i buy lunch at the canteen but i've been bringing lunch from home i've been getting up early to work out i don't usually do this but recently i have been doing this right that is the grammar explanation those the differences between the present perfect and the present perfect continuous now it's time to check your understanding i have created a quiz it's in the pdf that i have created that covers everything in this lesson i know it's been a complicated lesson so i hope having some notes will help you if

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can pick up lots of new vocabulary words maybe watch it without subtitles see how much you understand and then review again with subtitles use them however you wish don't forget to connect with me on social media i've got my instagram which is at lucy and i've got my website englishwithlucy.cod where i have a fantastic pronunciation tool i am still very excited by it you can click on words containing those furnims and hear me say them too e no air i will see you soon for another lesson has all have plus subject plus b i'm struggling

here we cannot use the present perfect conditional conditional sorry we can use them with synth synth have i pronounced stativ correctly yes state of can me doubting myself because i'm scarred with people calling me out on the internet okay [Music] [Music] okay