Present Perfect: negative sentences
550 fill-in-the-gap exercises, 55 tests of ten
Put not after have or has. In practice you will nearly always see the short form: haven't, hasn't.
The past participle is the third form in verb tables: written, gone, built. It never changes with the subject.
Practice this form
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The pattern
Add not to the auxiliary, not to the main verb. The past participle itself never changes.
The short forms haven’t and hasn’t are standard in speech and in most writing. Write have not and has not in full only when you want emphasis: I have not agreed to that.
Where yet goes
Yet is the word the negative Present Perfect is built around. It means the thing is still expected — just not done so far. It goes at the end of the sentence:
The parcel hasn’t arrived yet.
Compare it with still, which carries impatience and comes before the auxiliary:
The parcel still hasn’t arrived.
Both are correct. Still sounds as if you have waited long enough.
Two ways to say the same thing
English often lets you put the negative on the object instead of the verb, and the meaning barely shifts:
- I haven’t made any progress.
- I have made no progress.
The first is neutral; the second is firmer. In drills you will usually meet the first.
All forms
| Subject | Full form | Short form |
|---|---|---|
| I, you, we, they | have not seen | haven't seen |
| he, she, it | has not seen | hasn't seen |
Examples
Taken from the 550 sentences in this drill. The answer is highlighted.
- They haven't been to their favorite band's concert.
- The project hasn't made any significant progress yet.
- He hasn't had any success in his new business yet.
- We haven't received any response from the job applications we submitted.
- Sarah hasn't found her car keys.
- The students haven't finished their homework assignments yet.
- We haven't had our lunch at the new restaurant in town yet.
- The kids haven't seen their grandmother since last summer.
- John hasn't finished his homework yet.
- The company hasn't achieved its financial goals for the year yet.
- She hasn't been to the new restaurant in town yet.
- They haven't watched the new comedy movie in the theater.
Mistakes to avoid
Wrong: She doesn't have finished. correct: She hasn't finished.
The Present Perfect makes its own negative. Do and does never appear in it.
Wrong: I haven't seen him since three years. correct: I haven't seen him for three years.
For takes a length of time. Since takes the point it started from: since 2022.
Wrong: They haven't arrived already. correct: They haven't arrived yet.
Already belongs in positive sentences. The negative takes yet, at the end.