Shadowing Practice: Learn English Tenses: The Present Perfect - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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Hi, Bob the Canadian here.
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Welcome to this English lesson where I'm going to help you learn the present perfect tense.
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Hey, have you started yet?
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Yes, I've started.
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Sorry.
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No problem.
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The present perfect tense is used
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when you wanna talk about an action where the time isn't important
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or the time isn't specified or the action hasn't really finished happening.
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We use it in sentences like this.
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I have worked hard today.
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I have learned a lot of new English vocabulary.
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So stick around, in this lesson, I'll show you how to form the present perfect tense, I'll show you how to conjugate it, and we'll talk about when to use the present perfect tense.
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We'll also look at how to form the negative, and of course, how to form questions using this tense.
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Let's start by talking about how to conjugate the present perfect tense.
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You do this by taking your subjects, I, you, he, she, we, and they, and you conjugate the verb to have as your helper verb.
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So I have, you have, he, she has, we have, and they have.
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Then you take your verb and you put it into the past participle.
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I'm going to use the verb to call because it's regular, but you will need to learn a lot of irregular verbs as well.
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You would then have this, I have called, you have called, he has called, she has called, we have called, or they have called.
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That's how you conjugate the present perfect tense.
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As you know, in English, we're always in a hurry to say things as quickly as possible, so we usually use contractions.
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So we don't often say, I have called.
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Instead, we would say things like this.
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I've called, you've called, he's called, she's called, we've called, and they've called.
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I don't know why, but we're always in a hurry
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and we like to mush our words together so that we can say them quickly.
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We often use contractions.
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Let's talk about when you should use the present perfect tense.
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There are about five situations when you should use this verb tense.
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The first is when the time of the action is not over.
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So if I say something like this, I have worked hard today.
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I'm still working hard now.
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I was working hard and I will most likely keep working hard.
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So the time of the action is not over.
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I have worked hard today.
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I think I've worked hard today.
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yeah, I've worked pretty hard today.
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The second situation where you would use the present perfect tense is
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when you're using the words for and since to talk about something that started in the past.
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I could say something like this, I have lived here for 20 years, or I have worked for my brother since I was 20 years old.
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So when you use the words for and since, they kind of indicate to you that you should be using the present perfect tense.
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The third situation where you would use the present perfect is to talk about an action
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that has been repeated between the past and now.
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If I said I have visited her six times,
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it's an action that started in the past and it's happened five more times since the very first time I did it.
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I have visited her six times, an action that started in the past and was repeated many times.
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The fourth situation where you would use the present perfect is when the time of the action is not important.
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I could ask a question like this, have you studied ancient history?
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And you could respond by saying, yes, I've studied ancient history.
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So the time at which you studied ancient history is not important here.
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All that's important is that I want to know if you have studied ancient history.
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It's a little bit of a tricky one to learn as an English learner, but it's definitely a very common usage of the present perfect.
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To talk about something where the time that that thing happened is not important in the conversation.
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The fifth situation where you would use the present perfect is to talk about an action that was recently completed.
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And you would use the word just in the sentence.
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You could say this, I have just finished the book.
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That means that you were reading the book a few moments ago
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and you read the last page just in the last hour or in the last few minutes.
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So you do need the word just and you would use sentences like, I have just finished the book.
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Let's talk a little bit about how to form the negative using the present perfect.
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In order to do this, you simply add the word not between the conjugation of have and the past participle.
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So I could say this, I have not studied for my test.
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I have not visited my sister.
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You can see I simply added the word not between the verb have and the past participle.
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Now we have a sentence in the negative.
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Hey, I was just editing the video and I realized I forgot to mention we use contractions in the negative as well.
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We say things like I haven't called, you haven't called, he hasn't called, she hasn't called, we haven't called and they haven't called.
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So there you go.
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I'll just pop in here for a sec and add this little clip.
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Enjoy the rest of the lesson.
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We should also look at how to form a question using the present perfect.
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We do this by inverting the sentence.
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We flip the subject and the verb to have.
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So you would say things like this, have you cleaned your room?
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And you could respond by saying, yes, I have cleaned my room.
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Have you called your mom?
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And you would respond by saying, yes, I have called my mom.
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So to form a question using the present perfect, You simply flip the subject of the sentence with the verb to have and put a question mark at the end.
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Hey, thank you so much for watching this little lesson on the present perfect.
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I hope it helped you a little bit to understand more how to use this English verb tense.
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I'm Bob the Canadian.
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If you're new here, don't forget to click
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that red subscribe button over there and give me a thumbs up if you enjoyed watching this English lesson.
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And if you have a bit more time, why don't you stick around and watch another English lesson.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Learn English Tenses: The Present Perfect”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: present, perfect, tense, verb, action. This video has 85 sentences and 1104 words to shadow. The speech runs for 5:59. The speaker talks fast, about 185 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| tense noun | /tɛns/ | The property of indicating the point in time at which an action or state of being occurs or exists. |
| verb noun | /vɝb/ | A word that indicates an action, event, or state of being. |
| conjugate verb | /ˈkɒn.d͡ʒə.ɡeɪt/ | To inflect (a verb) for each person, in order, for one or more tenses; to list or recite its principal parts. |
| contraction noun | /kənˈtɹækʃ(ə)n/ | An act of incurring debt; also (generally), an act of acquiring something (generally negative). |
| participle noun | /ˈpɑɹtɪˌsɪpəl/ | A form of a verb that may function as an adjective, noun or adverb. English has two types of participles: the present participle and the past participle. In… |
| hurry verb | /ˈhʌ.ɹi/ | To do things quickly. |
| flip verb | /flɪp/ | To throw so as to turn over. |
| conjugation noun | /ˌkɑnd͡ʒəˈɡeɪʃən/ | The coming together of things; a union. |
| helper noun | /ˈhɛlpɚ/ | One who helps; an aide; assistant; auxiliary. |
| invert verb | /ɪnˈvɜɹt/ | To turn (something) upside down or inside out; to place in a contrary order or direction; to make (something) the opposite of it. |
| learner noun | /ˈlɜɹnəɹ/ | One who is learning; one receiving instruction. |
| irregular adjective | /ɪˈɹɛɡ.jə.lɚ/ | Nonstandard; not conforming to rules or expectations. |
| specify verb | /ˈspɛs.əˌfaɪ/ | To state explicitly, or in detail, or as a condition. |
| vocabulary noun | /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/ | A usually alphabetized and explained collection of words e.g. of a particular field, or prepared for a specific purpose, often for learning. |
| tricky adjective | /ˈtɹɪk.i/ | Hard to deal with, complicated. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| stick around verb | To stay; to linger; to remain. |
Sentences worth repeating
Short, complete lines from the video that you can reuse in everyday conversation:
- Hey, have you started yet?
- That's how you conjugate the present perfect tense.
- I'm still working hard now.
- I think I've worked hard today.
- Have you called your mom?
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | I've started · hasn't really finished · have worked |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | isn't specified · has been repeated · was repeated |
| Advice with “should” should + verb — saying what is a good idea | should use · should be · should also look |
| Past continuous was/were + -ing — an action in progress at a moment in the past | was working · were reading · was just editing |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 35 contractions and reduced forms, such as I've, don't, haven't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: contraction /kənˈtɹækʃ(ə)n/, conjugation /ˌkɑnd͡ʒəˈɡeɪʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: participle /ˈpɑɹtɪˌsɪpəl/, conjugation /ˌkɑnd͡ʒəˈɡeɪʃən/, irregular /ɪˈɹɛɡ.jə.lɚ/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like tense, verb, conjugate.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.