English Grammar: Using PRESENT PERFECT Tense with 'NEVER'

Don't be afraid of this grammar lesson! I'll teach you how to use the PRESENT PERFECT TENSE easily, so you can start using it right after this lesson! I'll give you lots of examples, so you will understand how to talk about things you have done all your life, or things that you have never done before. You'll learn to use the word "never" with regular and irregular verbs in present perfect. Check out this lesson and master this very useful English grammar tense! Then test yourself with the quiz: http://www.engvid.com/english-grammar-present-perfect-tense-never/

TRANSCRIPT

Hi. I'm Rebecca from engVid. In this lesson, you're going to start using the present perfect tense right away in an easy way. Now, a lot of students get a little bit scared of using the present perfect tense, but you don't have to be, especially after this lesson. I think you'll find an easy way to use it, and a reason to use it. Okay?

So, first of all, just very quickly: What's the present perfect tense? It sounds like this. It sounds like: "I have skated." or "I have flown." Right? So, what does that mean? When I say: "I have skated many times in my life." it means that at some time in the past, I did something and it's still true today. Okay? So just as we can talk about things that we have done in our lives... For example: "I have seen that movie.", "I have read that book." Correct? The same way, you can also talk about what you have never done, because I'm sure that there are some things that you've never done, just like there are some things I've never done. So, we can use the present perfect to describe these actions as well. So, I'll show you what I mean? Okay? There are many good examples on the board.

So, let's look at this. So, for example, with that sentence that I gave you at the beginning: "I have skated many times in my life." Now, actually, that's not true. I have never skated, okay? Even though I live in Canada, I have never skated. So, that is how we can use the present perfect tense with the word "never". So, "skated" is a regular verb. Regular verb means that in the past tense we add a "d" or an "ed". "Flown" is an irregular verb, so when we use it with the present perfect, we use the past participle. There's usually like a third form, there's a long list, you kind of have to learn by heart, when you're in school, when you're learning the present perfect, and you can practice it here because you'll see many examples that I've written for you on the board.

So, here, we put the word "never" just before this last verb. Okay? So: "I have never skated.", "I have never flown." Okay? What do I mean by "flown"? So, for example, flown by airli-... By air. That's not true. In my case, I have travelled. But there are many people in the world who have never had a chance to travel by air, so they... That person could say: "I have never flown by air." Okay? All right.

So, let's look at many examples so you'll understand how to say something like this. So, here I've got all the subjects, here we have the word "never", and here we have many regular verbs, and here, many irregular verbs. So let's make a lot of different sentences so you can hear the pattern of this type of sentence, as well as understanding the grammar of it. So, here we have the subject: "I've". What is "I've"? "I've" is short for "I have". Right? But when we are speaking in conversational English, usually we don't say: "I have never flown." or "I have never eaten..." No. We just say: "I've". Okay? So that's a contraction. All of these are contractions that we use in regular conversational English.

So, let's make some sentences, now. "I've never visited China." Okay? So, here, we had the subject, the word "never", the verb, regular verb, past tense form, and some more information. Right? "I've never visited China.", "You've never talked to him before.", "So why are you talking to him now?" somebody might say. Okay. "We've never tried Korean food.", "They've never played so well."