Year 6 English: The perfect form: has or have with the past participle
Part of the Year 6 English modal verbs, the perfect form and the passive chapter. Chapter overview · whole chapter on one page
The perfect form: has or have with the past participle
The perfect form uses has or have with the past participle of the verb. It shows a link between a past event and the present, or shows that one event happened before another. For example: She has finished her lunch.
The past participle is often the same as the simple past for regular verbs (walked), but some verbs change: write becomes written.
Past participles
| Verb | Past participle | Example with has or have |
|---|---|---|
| eat | eaten | have eaten |
| write | written | have written |
| break | broken | have broken |
| see | seen | have seen |
| take | taken | has taken |
| begin | begun | have begun |
Key ideas
- Use has with he, she and it; use have with I, we, you and they.
- The perfect form uses the past participle, not the simple past.
- The perfect form links a past event to the present, or shows what happened first.
Method. Use have with they, then the past participle.
- Find the subject. They is plural, so use have.have
- Add the past participle. The past participle of finish is finished.finished
- Write the form. Have finished links the past event to now.have finished
- Write the answer. have finished
Check. They have finished their homework. ✓
Method. Use has with she, then the past participle written.
- Find the subject. She is singular, so use has.has
- Add the past participle. The past participle of write is written.written
- Write the form. Has written shows the letters are finished.has written
- Write the answer. has written
Check. She has written three letters. ✓
Method. Find the verb that shows the earlier event.
- Find the verb. The verb fallen shows an event that happened before the road was closed.fallen
- Check the form. The perfect with has links the tree falling to the road closure.has fallen
- Write the answer. The tree has fallen, so the road is closed now.has fallen
- Write the answer. has fallen
Check. has fallen shows the cause. ✓
Watch out
Watch out: do not write I have wrote. The past participle of write is written.
Exam tip
Grown-up tip. Ask your child to tell you three things they have done this week, using have or has with the past participle.
Exercise 6B Practice: the perfect form
Method. Use has or have with the past participle.
- Find the subject. The subject is They, so use have.have
- Add the past participle. The past participle of finish is finished.finished
- Write the perfect form. have finished shows a link between the past and now.have finished
- Write the answer. have finished
Check. They have finished their homework. ✓
Watch out. The perfect form uses has or have, then the past participle, not the simple past.
Method. Use has or have with the past participle.
- Find the subject. The subject is She, so use has.has
- Add the past participle. The past participle of write is written.written
- Write the perfect form. has written shows a link between the past and now.has written
- Write the answer. has written
Check. She has written three letters this week. ✓
Watch out. The perfect form uses has or have, then the past participle, not the simple past.
Method. Use has or have with the past participle.
- Find the subject. The subject is I, so use have.have
- Add the past participle. The past participle of eat is eaten.eaten
- Write the perfect form. have eaten shows a link between the past and now.have eaten
- Write the answer. have eaten
Check. I have eaten all the biscuits. ✓
Watch out. The perfect form uses has or have, then the past participle, not the simple past.
Method. Use has or have with the past participle.
- Find the subject. The subject is We, so use have.have
- Add the past participle. The past participle of see is seen.seen
- Write the perfect form. have seen shows a link between the past and now.have seen
- Write the answer. have seen
Check. We have seen that film before. ✓
Watch out. The perfect form uses has or have, then the past participle, not the simple past.
Method. Use has or have with the past participle.
- Find the subject. The subject is He, so use has.has
- Add the past participle. The past participle of break is broken.broken
- Write the perfect form. has broken shows a link between the past and now.has broken
- Write the answer. has broken
Check. He has broken the window. ✓
Watch out. The perfect form uses has or have, then the past participle, not the simple past.
Method. Use has or have with the past participle.
- Find the subject. The subject is It, so use has.has
- Add the past participle. The past participle of begin is begun.begun
- Write the perfect form. has begun shows a link between the past and now.has begun
- Write the answer. has begun
Check. It has begun to rain. ✓
Watch out. The perfect form uses has or have, then the past participle, not the simple past.
Method. Use has or have with the past participle.
- Find the subject. The subject is You, so use have.have
- Add the past participle. The past participle of choose is chosen.chosen
- Write the perfect form. have chosen shows a link between the past and now.have chosen
- Write the answer. have chosen
Check. You have chosen a book. ✓
Watch out. The perfect form uses has or have, then the past participle, not the simple past.
Method. Use has or have with the past participle.
- Find the subject. The subject is She, so use has.has
- Add the past participle. The past participle of go is gone.gone
- Write the perfect form. has gone shows a link between the past and now.has gone
- Write the answer. has gone
Check. She has gone to the shop. ✓
Watch out. The perfect form uses has or have, then the past participle, not the simple past.
Method. Test each choice against the sentence or the text.
- Read what the question asks for. Decide what the sentence or the text needs.
- Test the choice. The past participle of eat is eaten.has eaten fits
- Reject the other choices. Has ate uses the simple past, not the past participle.has ate do not fit
- Write the answer. has eaten
Check. The choice fits the sentence or the text. ✓
Method. Look at the auxiliary and the form of the verb.
- Look at has seen. Has is the auxiliary, and seen is the past participle.has seen
- Look at saw. Saw is the simple past, with no auxiliary.saw
- Write the answer. Has seen uses has with the past participle, while saw is the simple past on its own.
Check. The perfect uses has and the past participle. ✓
Method. Find the wrong verb form, and use its past participle.
- Find the wrong verb. Went is the simple past, not the past participle.went
- Write the participle. The past participle of go is gone.gone
- Write the answer. We have gone to the park.
Check. have gone is the perfect form. ✓
Method. Choose the subject, then add have or has and taken.
- Choose the subject. We is the subject.We
- Add the perfect form. Have taken is the perfect form of take.have taken
- Write the answer. We have taken lots of photographs on our holiday.
Check. have taken is the perfect form. ✓
Method. Think about the link between the past and the present.
- Look at the form. Has or have shows a link to the present.has or have
- Look at the participle. The past participle shows the completed event.the completed event
- Write the answer. The perfect form links a past event to the present, so it shows the event is finished or relevant now
Check. The perfect links the past to the present. ✓
Method. Use have, because children is plural, and add the past participle.
- Find the subject. Children is plural, so use have.have
- Add the participle. The past participle of run is run.have run
- Write the answer. The children have run to school today.
Check. have run is the perfect form. ✓