Question

When do we use the third tense in English with specific verbs in present perfect tense, for example: I have finished, He has worked, We have gone?

Answer 1

You use it when the action happened in the recent past.

Explanation:

"I have eaten" is an action that happened in the more recent past than "I ate".

For example, you could say, "I ate a pizza for my birthday last year."
For something recent, you could say, "OK, I have eaten my sandwich. Now we can go see the movie."

In North America, this tense is not used as much as it is in Britain, which is a pity because it makes a useful statement about when a past action occurred. When it is used in North America, the verb "have" is usually abbreviated. For example, you will more likely hear:

I've eaten.
She's eaten.
They've arrived.
We've run out of time for this project.

You cannot use an indicator of time with this tense. For example, you can't say "I have eaten my sandwich last week."