1. Perfect means complete or finished. The Present Perfect Tense is used for actions that are complete or finished now
- We have brought this book This means that the book is here now. We don't know when we brought this book. But if we knew, we would use the Simple Past Tense : I brought this book this morning
Don't say : I have seen a good film yesterday
say : I saw a good film yesterday
Don't say : I saw the Taj Mahal
say : I have seen the Taj Mahal
Don't say : He already announced his decision
say : He has already announced his decision
Note : We use the Present Perfect Tense very often with indefinite adverbials of time, e.g., yet, already, often, never, sometimes, lately, recently, just, etc. But we use Simple Past Tense with definite adverbials of time, e/g., a minute ago, long ago, last night, last Monday, yesterday, then etc. No matter how closely connected with the present the event may be, the moment we use a definite adverbial of time, we are obliged to use a past tense : I received your letter a few seconds ago
2. The Present Perfect Tense in clauses of time : In English we do not use the Future Tense in clauses of time, introduced by when, if, until, unless, as soon as, before, after, etc. In these cases, we use the Present Perfect or Simple Present instead of the Future. Both these tenses are used equally often in this way, and there is no defference of meaning between them; e.g
They cannot leave the school until they have done their workThey cannot leave the school until they do their work
Further Examples
Wait until the doctor has examined the patient
He will return the form as soon as he has signed it
After I have had my bicycle repaired, I shall go home
3. The Present Perfect may refer to an action or state beginning at sometime (not necessarily recent) in the past and continuing to the present. Since is used if the point of beginning is indicated, and for if the lenght of the period is given
He has been in Lucknow since 1975He has been a doctor for five years now
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