 Present perfect versus past perfect from espressoenglish.net Both the present perfect and the past perfect talk about something that happened before a point in time, called the reference point. In the present perfect, our reference point is the present, and in the past perfect, our reference point is in the past. Let's look at some examples. Present perfect. I have been to Japan twice. You can see that our reference point is the present, and the two trips to Japan are in the past. We don't know exactly when, but they happened before the reference point, before the present. Past perfect. I had been to Japan twice by the time I was ten years old. In this case, our reference point is in the past. I am twenty-eight years old in the present, and in the past I was ten years old. The two trips to Japan happened before I was ten years old, before the reference point in the past. Here's another example. My husband has already eaten breakfast. It means that he has eaten breakfast sometime in the past, before the present moment, which is our reference point. Now look at an example in the past perfect. When I woke up, I saw that my husband had already eaten breakfast. The reference point is now the moment in the past when I woke up, and my husband had eaten breakfast before this reference point in the past. You can form the present perfect with have or has plus the past participle. I have been. He has eaten. Form the past perfect with had plus the past participle. I had been. He had eaten. In spoken English it's very common to use the short form. In the present perfect, I've been, and he's eaten. And in the past perfect, I'd been, and he'd eaten. For a fast way to improve your English grammar and vocabulary, get the e-book 100 Common Errors in English, available at espressoenglish.net. Thanks for watching English Tips from Espresso English. If you liked this video, please share it.