Many people, even those who have never learned English, know that the hardest things to learn are the rules of reading and verb tenses. It is a joke to learn 16 tenses and use them correctly. We have to get to the heart of the matter.
Let's start with the Present Perfect.
The most important thing is to understand that the action, even if it has taken place, is related to the present. In Russian, such sentences are translated with the past tense, but with perfect verbs to emphasise the result, the purpose.
I have picked up a lot of stones and seashells on the beach. I am going to make a picture (i.e. I have done an action that will result in a wonderful composition of stones in the present).
What has he told her? She is in tears! (The boy has said something to the girl that has brought tears to her eyes).

To express thoughts in Present Perfect, it is necessary to use the auxiliary verb have/has and the third form of the semantic verb (V3/V-ed). Let's look at the formula:

The choice of auxiliary verb depends on the person who performed the action:
I/you/we/they - safely choose have.
He/she/it (third person singular) - in this case has.
They have met for three times this month.
She has bought a present for Christmas.

With the auxiliary word it is clearer. The second part of the construction is completed with a phrasal verb in Past Participle. In English there are regular and irregular verbs. Whether it is correct or not, it is impossible to understand, so they created a list of such words, and the third form should be taken from there. For example:
Steal - stole - stolen
Someone has stolen my wallet.
Break - broke - broken
Molly has just broken her arm.

Let me reassure you once and for all: there are far fewer irregular verbs than correct ones. For the correct ones, let's learn to add the -ed ending correctly. It is clearer, as always, with examples:

1. If the verb has -ee or -e in it, only -d is added.
Like - liked
Rhyme - rhymed
Agree - agreed
I have already rhymed two lines.

2. If a word ends in a vowel -u preceded by a consonant, <y> changes to <i>.
hurry - hurried
Study - studied
Cry - cried

3. If the verb ending is y, preceded by a vowel, the <y> does not change.
Play - played
Enjoy -enjoyed
They have enjoyed this movie.

4. If the verb ends in a consonant and the stress falls on the end of the word, the consonant is doubled.
Stop - stopped - stop
Prefer - preferred - prefer (compare: caminar walk -walked, trust - trusted. This is the usual joining of the ending, because the ending has a double consonant).
The doubling does not occur if the stress falls on the preceding syllable or if the vowel sound before the consonant is long.
Open - opened
Cook - cooked
Mummy has cooked a beautiful dinner.

5. <X> and <W> at the end are not doubled.
Fix - fixed
Allow - allowed

6. <L> is always doubled when preceded by a short percussive sound.
Соmpel - compelled
But if there is a long or unstressed vowel sound before <L>, then the American and British grammatical rules are different.
The British version: signal - signalled
The American version: signal - signaled

Let us now practise forming sentences in the present perfect tense. The formula is simple:
The person who did the action + have/has + V3/V-ed
I have found my slippers under the couch.
He has splinted his ankle.
In live conversation have and has are abbreviated.
I've found my slippers under the couch.
He's splinted his ankle.

To form negative constructions we use the particle not.
As always, it is clarified with examples:
I/you/we/they + have + not + V3/V-ed
She/he/she/hey + have + not + V3/V-ed
John and Mike (they) have not visited a museum.
Mrs. Pool has not gone for a walk with her children.
In colloquial speech, the word combinations have not and has not are used in abbreviated form:
They haven't visited a museum.
Mrs.Pool hasn't gone for a walk with her children today.

Negation with the adverb never is interesting. Example:
I have never dived before. (In this case, the particle not is not necessary. In English there is no double negation)

Common Present Perfect questions are formed by rearranging the auxiliary verbs at the beginning of the sentence. Examples:
Anna has planted the flowers (statement).
Has Anna planted the flowers?
They have come to the classes (statement).
Have they come to the classes? (question).

Specials are constructed using interrogative words which begin an utterance. These are the words what?, why?, where?, which?, who? and so on. The auxiliary words remain in front of the subject, as in general questions.
What game have they just played?
Why has he decided to go there today?
Where have you been this morning?

Tag questions contain a statement, i.e. direct word order + short question.
My brother has eaten all the sweets, hasn't he?
They have already built a new bridge, haven't they?

You also have to know how to answer questions. Let's look at some short answers:
Has Anna planted the flowers? - Yes, she has / No, she hasn't.
Have they come to the classes? - Yes, they have / No, they haven't
My brother has eaten all the sweets, hasn't he? - Yes, he has / No, he hasn't.
They have already built a new bridge, haven't they? - Yes, they have/ No, they haven't.

Questions with when, what time cannot be asked in Present Perfect, because we want to know a specific time, and this is only possible in Past Simple.

In each tense there are helpers which show us how to use the correct form in a sentence. The following markers are characteristic of the present perfect:

Never
We have never travelled to Japan.

Just. Al igual que Never, se coloca después del verbo auxiliar, pero antes de la conjunción semántica.
A dog has just gnawed a huge bone.

Yet
Have you written a new article yet?
Mary hasn’t check out of the hotel yet.

Lately
I have visited my friend for several times lately.

Recently
We have flown over Moscow recently.

Ever
Have you ever performed in front of a large audience?

Today. Está al final de la narración.
Natasha has prepared a report for today meeting.

Before
They haven’t seen each other before.

By now
They have swum five kilometers by now.

This morning/week/month/year
Nick hasn’t learned new English words this week.

Let us now look in more detail at the circumstances in which we will use the present perfect. For an English-speaking audience it is important not only to tell about some event in the past, but also to connect the past with the present moment. Let's divide the use cases of the Present Perfect into blocks.

1. There is no simpler case.
We are talking about a completed process, the result of which we can see now.
My team has repainted an old fence (Not only have they repainted it, but we see a nice fence after the work is done).
I have just done my homework. I'm free now. (Great result: now I can do whatever I want. The work done is on the table.)
The marker just now is used very often.
We are talking about recent events, recurrent phenomena, but the time period is not over.
We have the opportunity to do something else and not just once. In this case, this morning/week/month/year, today, hoy come to the rescue.
We have read the magazine twice this evening.
He has walked with his dog today (But he may go again).

2. The cases are more difficult.
The action is not over. It is not over yet.
Sally has suffered from smog for 6 months. She wants to move (although she still lives in the city for the time being).
My parents have loved each other for many years.
Describe the evolution, the changes that have taken place over an indefinite period of time.
The tree has grown since the last time I saw it.

3. Difficulty.
Difficulties arise when we want to talk about a prolonged activity, but we cannot use the Present Perfect Continuous because some verbs are not used with this tense. These are the so-called state words which describe thought processes: to think, to mean, to understand; which express opinions, feelings, emotions: to agree, to suppose, to notice, to hear, to hurt. Then we only need the Present Perfect.

For example:
They have smelled something burning for half an hour.(They had been smelling something burning for half an hour, but saying "They have been smelling something burning for half an hour" is not correct because to smell is not used in the Continuous line).
You have always wanted to visit Europe, since your childhood.

Let us consider an even more complicated case of using the Рresent Perfect. The passive voice shows that the subject does not perform the action, but undergoes it. What is of interest here is the subject. If it is indicated who performs the process, the preposition by is used, and if it is indicated with what it is performed, the preposition with is used.

The formula of formation
Subject + have/has + been + V3/V-ed
Our front door has been fixed by the builders.
This bench has already been set up in town park (it doesn't matter who set it up or when).
We have been invited to the cinema (i.e. we have not been invited personally, but we have been invited).

Negation
The particle not is also added after the auxiliary verb.
A gift has not been bought yet.
Letters have not been written by now.
And a shortened version
A gift hasn't been bought yet.
Letters haven't been written by now.

Question
The grass has been cut today. (Statement)
Has the grass been cut today?
Why hasn't the grass been cut today?

The perfect tense denotes perfect concepts, but it can still be confused with other tenses. It is difficult not to confuse it with the Past Simple. Let's look at the table. It shows the main differences in the use of the Present Perfect and the Past Simple.

Sentences in Past Simple are translated with an imperfect verb (was, looked, wrote, drew, etc.), which does not tell us about the performance.
In addition, historical events are only described in Past Simple, as they have no relation to the present day. There are no eyewitnesses and there is nothing we can change.

The Present Perfect often overlaps with the Present Perfect Continuous. Let us also consider the difference between the two.

Translated with DeepL

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