 Difference between present perfect and past perfect from espressoenglish.net. Both present perfect and past perfect talk about something that happened before a point in time, 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. We can use the present perfect for an action that started in the past and continues to the present. For example, I have lived in this city for six months. That means I started living in this city six months ago, and I still live in this city in the present. We can also use the present perfect for an action that happened before now, when we don't specify the time. For example, I have been to Japan twice. This happened before now, but I don't say specifically when I traveled there. The form of the present perfect is have or has plus the past participle. Here's some more examples. My mother has just gone to the store. Janet has lived abroad for five years. I haven't seen the new movie yet. Have you finished your homework? It's common to use the short form of have and has. For example, I've been to Japan three times. My mother's just gone to the store. Janet's lived abroad for five years. Use the past perfect for an action that happened before a time in the past. For example, when I arrived at the office this morning, I discovered that I had left my computer on the night before. We have several actions in the past. Arriving at the office happened in the past, in the morning. And leaving my computer on also happened in the past before arriving at the office. So we use the past perfect. I had left my computer on. The form of the past perfect is had plus the past participle. Here are two more examples. Let's say I went to Japan in 1988 and 1991 and then I turned 10 years old in 1994. I could say I had been to Japan twice by the time I was 10 years old. Let's say my husband ate breakfast at 6 a.m. and later I woke up at 7 a.m. I could say when I woke up this morning my husband had already eaten breakfast. It's common to use the short form, the contraction, apostrophe D, in the past perfect. For example, I'd traveled to five different countries by the time I was 20 years old. You can continue improving your English in my advanced English grammar course. It has 45 detailed lessons and writing tasks with teacher feedback. Click on the link in the video or in the description for more information and to sign up.