Perfect Tense Worksheets

The perfect tenses use a form of the helping verb have with a past participle. They show that an action is finished, or has been going on, up to a certain time. The present perfect uses has or have: "Ari has visited Mexico twice." The past perfect uses had: "The movie had started before we found our seats." The future perfect uses will have: "By June, I will have read forty books."

Each perfect tense is tied to a time. The present perfect reaches from the past up to now. The past perfect tells which of two past actions happened first; the had action came first. The future perfect tells about an action that will be finished before a time in the future. Time clues such as since, already, by the time, and by next June help you choose.

The past participle is the verb form that goes with have, has, and had. Regular verbs add -ed (walked, planted), but irregular verbs change: gone, eaten, written, taken, and seen. A common mistake is to use the simple past instead: we say "have gone," not "have went."

These printable worksheets start with a perfect tense chart, then practice forming each tense, choosing irregular participles, using time clues, rewriting sentences, and writing about your own life. Practice pages have answer keys.