Both the present perfect and the present perfect progressive tenses are used to talk about things that started in the past, but continue into, or is relevant to the present. For example:
“I have been playing hockey all my life.” (continues)
“Mark has lived in Cleveland for three years.” (continues)
“Dave has been drinking all day.” (relevant to the present)
“They have solved the problem!” (relevant to the present)
However, the present perfect progressive is usually used to stress that the action is not yet finished.
The past perfect tense also has simple and continuous tenses. They are formed just like the present perfect tenses, except that they use the past tense of the verb “to have.”
“I had seen that movie before he told me about it.” (simple)
“Had you broken your arm before?” (simple)
“Stan had been using a belt to hold up his pants, but he lost it.” (progressive)
“We had dieted for two months without losing even one pound.” (simple)
“They haven’t been reading the books we gave them.” (progressive)
Both of these tenses are used to say when something happened before something else.
The simple present perfect is formed by putting the present tense of the verb “to have” in front of the past participle.
“I have finished all my work.”
“Have you learned a lot at the university?”
“Our basketball team has lost all of its games this year.”
The present perfect progressive is formed by putting the present tense of the verb “to have” in front of “been” and the present participle (the “-ing” form of the verb.)
“Susan hasn’t been eating lunch lately.”
“We have been spending too much money.”
“They have been playing all day.”