PE-33: Present Perfect with for and since
How long have you lived here? The structure for something that started in the past and is STILL true — where Uzbek uses the present and English does not.
PE-33: Present Perfect with for and since
Here is the single most useful thing the Present Perfect does, and the place where Uzbek
speakers most often say something wrong without noticing. In Uzbek: Men bu yerda oʻn
yildan beri yashayman — present tense. Translate that word for word and you get
I live here for ten years, which is wrong in English. The correct sentence is
I have lived here for ten years.
In this lesson you will learn
- The structure have/has + V3 + for / since
- Why English uses a past-looking tense for something still true
- How to ask and answer How long …?
- The difference between I lived and I have lived
1. The picture: still going
The band starts at a point in the past and touches NOW. Nothing has stopped. That is why English refuses to use the Past Simple here — the past would close the band before it reached today.
We have lived in this house for ten years. (we live here now)
Biz bu uyda oʻn yildan beri yashaymiz. (hozir ham shu yerdamiz)
2. for and since — applied
You met the pair in PE-31; here it does its real work. for answers How long? and since answers Since when?
for + a length
- I've known her for six years.
- He's been ill for a week.
- We've waited for two hours.
since + a starting point
- I've known her since 2019.
- He's been ill since Monday.
- We've waited since two o'clock.
Since can also be followed by a whole clause — and that clause takes the Past Simple, because it names the moment when everything started.
I have wanted to be a doctor since I was a child. Afsona hasn't called me since she moved to Tashkent.
Bolaligimdan beri shifokor boʻlishni xohlayman. Afsona Toshkentga koʻchib ketganidan beri menga qoʻngʻiroq qilmadi.
Two tenses in one sentence: Present Perfect + since + Past Simple.
3. Asking How long?
— How long have you studied English? — For four years. / Since the fifth form.
— Ingliz tilini qancha vaqtdan beri oʻrganasiz? — Toʻrt yildan beri. / Beshinchi sinfdan beri.
4. "I lived" vs "I have lived"
Both are correct English — they simply describe different lives.
Past Simple = finished
I lived in Bukhara for five years.
I don't live there any more.
Present Perfect = still true
I have lived in Bukhara for five years.
I still live there today.
5. Common mistakes
I am here since Monday.
I have been here since Monday.
I know Jasur for ten years.
I have known Jasur for ten years.
She has worked here since three years.
She has worked here for three years.
How long do you live in this city?
How long have you lived in this city?
I haven't seen him since he has left.
I haven't seen him since he left. (Past Simple after "since")
Practice
1 Correct it: My father works in this factory for twenty years.
Show answer
My father has worked in this factory for twenty years.
He started twenty years ago and still works there — so English needs the Present Perfect, even though Uzbek uses the present.
2 for or since: We have been friends ? we were six, that is ? almost ten years.
Show answer
since … for. We were six is the starting moment; almost ten years is the length.
3 What is the difference? (a) Sherbek played football for five years. (b) Sherbek has played football for five years.
Show answer
(a) He has stopped — those five years are over. (b) He still plays — the five years reach today.
4 Ask the question: — … ? — I have had this phone for two years.
Show answer
How long have you had this phone?
How long + have + subject + V3 — and have appears twice here, once as helper and once as the main verb.
5 Translate: Men uni beshinchi sinfdan beri bilaman.
Show answer
I have known him since the fifth form.
Uzbek "bilaman" is present, but English must use have known — the knowing started then and continues now.
Key words — Kalit soʻzlar
- How long?qancha vaqtdan beri?
- For...davomida
- Since...dan beri
- To continuedavom etmoq
- Still truehozir ham shunday
- To move (house)koʻchib oʻtmoq
- Interviewsuhbat, intervyu
- To be illkasal boʻlmoq
- Factoryzavod, fabrika
- Almostdeyarli
🎯 Remember this
- Started in the past + still true now → have/has + V3, never the present tense.
- Uzbek says "yashayman", English says "have lived" — this one habit fixes many sentences.
- for + length · since + starting point · since + Past Simple clause.
- Ask with How long have you …?
- I lived there = finished · I have lived there = still there.