Start with a real moment.
A colleague asks whether the report is ready. “I’ve finished it” focuses on the result now. If they ask when you finished, “I finished it yesterday” places the event in a completed past period. Both can describe the same action; they answer different questions.
See how the sentence works.
Subject + have / has + past participle
Read the sentence as one idea, then notice the job each part does.
Understand the choices.
Use past simple with a finished past time: yesterday, last week or in 2022. “We met in April” presents the meeting as a past event. Form negatives with did not + base verb: “We didn’t meet on Monday.”
Use present perfect for past events linked to the present: a current result, experience up to now, or a situation continuing until now. “I’ve worked here for two years” usually means I still work here. “I worked there for two years” places that period in the past.
Use since for a starting point and for for a duration. Do not attach an explicitly finished time such as yesterday to an ordinary present perfect clause. In American English, past simple is also common with just, already and yet; do not treat all regional differences as errors.
Useful sentences, in context.
I sent the invoice at nine this morning.
The event is located at a specific completed time.
I have sent the invoice, so you can check it now.
The invoice is now available.
Have you ever worked abroad?
The time window is the person’s life up to now.
A small change makes a difference.
AvoidI have finished it yesterday.
UseI finished it yesterday.
Yesterday is a finished past period. Alternatively, remove yesterday: “I have finished it.”
A MOMENT TO PRACTISE
Your turn.
Choose an answer, then check the explanation. There is no timer and nothing to sign up for.
TAKE IT INTO YOUR DAY
Make it yours.
Write a work update using present perfect for the result. Add a second sentence in past simple to explain exactly when something happened.
Further reading · British Council LearnEnglish
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