Have You Met the Perfect Tenses?

 

Editor’s note: This is the third episode¹ of four-part series on verb tenses. Be sure to listen to part one and part two first.

For VOA Learning² English, this is Everyday Grammar.

Today we are going to talk about the perfect verb tenses. Perfect tenses generally focus on how a past action affects the present.For example, “I have already eaten.” The suggestion is that the speaker is not hungry.

Perfect verb tenses are the most difficult for English learners. The term “perfect” can be confusing. What does grammar have to do with not making mistakes? When you are talking about grammar, perfect has a different meaning. It comes from the Latin³ word perfectum, which means “complete.”

The most important thing to remember is the perfect tenses always refer to completed actions. If you get confused, try replacing “perfect” with “completed” and the time relationship should become clearer.

We will start with the present perfect. You form the present perfect using has or have followed by a past participle verb. For example, “I have seen Star Wars.”

The use of the present perfect here gives us three pieces of information. First, it tells us that the event is finished. Second, it tells us that the exact time of the action is unknown or unimportant⁴. Third, it suggests that the experience of seeing Star Wars has some effect in the present.

One of the most difficult distinctions for English learners to make is the difference between the simple past and present perfect.

Remember, when there is a specific time, you use the simple past. In the sentence “I saw Star Wars last night,” the adverb last night is a specific time.

You cannot say “I have seen Star Wars last night.” But, you could say, “I have seen Star Wars before” or “in the past” or “three times.”

You should also use the present perfect to refer to a repeated action in the past. For example, “I have taken that test four times.” The exact time of each action is not important.

You can also use the present perfect to describe an action that did not happen, using the adverb never. “I have never traveled outside of my country” and “I have never smoked in my entire life.” Something that did not happen in the past, like not traveling and not smoking, can also have an effect in the present.

The adverbs never, already, yet and so far are common in the present perfect. Adverbs are often the best indicators⁵ of which verb tense to use.

Past Perfect

Now let us look at the past perfect. The past perfect describes an activity that was finished before another event in the past. For example, “She had already had a baby before she graduated.”

To form the past perfect, use had followed by a past participle verb. For the second action, use before or by the time followed by the simple past verb. Imagine you were at a New Year’s Eve party, but you fell asleep before midnight. You could say, “I had already fallen asleep before the New Year came.”

You can use the past perfect to talk about how an experience from the distant past relates to an experience from the more recent past. For example, “The soldier wasn’t scared because he had already been in battle before.”

In other words, battle was not a new experience for the soldier.

If the time relationship is clear, you can choose between the past perfect and the simple past. “My grandfather passed away before I was born,” has the same meaning as “My grandfather had passed away before I was born.”

The past perfect just emphasizes⁷ that the first action was completed before the second action.

Future perfect

Let us move on to the future perfect. Use the future perfect when you know that one future action will be completed before another future action. For example, “I will have graduated from college before my little brother graduates from high school.”

The future perfect has very limited use because we rarely know a future sequence⁸ of events with any certainty⁹. When it is used, the future perfect usually refers to major life events that are planned years in advance.

And those are the three perfect tenses. Join us next week on Everyday Grammar for an explanation of the perfect progressive¹⁰ tenses.

Words in This Story

participle - grammar. a form of a verb that is used to indicate a past or present action and that can also be used like an adjective¹¹

adverb - grammar. a word that describes a verb, an adjective, another adverb, or a sentence and that is often used to show time, manner, place, or degree

indicator⁶ - n. a sign that shows the condition or existence of something

scared - adj. afraid of something

1 episode   

n.（作品的一段）情节，插曲，系列事件中之一

参考例句：

• The episode was a huge embarrassment for all concerned.这段小插曲令所有有关人员都感到非常尴尬。
• This episode remains sharply engraved on my mind.这段经历至今仍深深地铭刻在我的心中。

2 learning   

n.学问，学识，学习；动词learn的现在分词

参考例句：

• When you are learning to ride a bicycle,you often fall off.初学骑自行车时，常会从车上掉下来。
• Learning languages isn't just a matter of remembering words.学习语言不仅仅是记些单词的事。

3 Latin   

adj.拉丁的，拉丁语的，拉丁人的；n.拉丁语

参考例句：

• She learned Latin without a master.她无师自通学会了拉丁语。
• Please use only Latin characters.请仅使用拉丁文字符。

4 unimportant   

adj.不重要的，无意义的

参考例句：

• Let's not quarrel about such unimportant matters.我们不要为这些小事争吵了。
• Money seems unimportant when sets beside the joys of family life.与天伦之乐相比，金钱显得微不足道。

5 indicators   

（仪器上显示温度、压力、耗油量等的）指针( indicator的名词复数 )； 指示物； （车辆上的）转弯指示灯； 指示信号

参考例句：

• The economic indicators are better than expected. 经济指标比预期的好。
• It is still difficult to develop indicators for many concepts used in social science. 为社会科学领域的许多概念确立一个指标仍然很难。

6 indicator   

n.指标；指示物，指示者；指示器

参考例句：

• Gold prices are often seen as an indicator of inflation.黃金价格常常被看作是通货膨胀的指标。
• His left-hand indicator is flashing.他左手边的转向灯正在闪亮。

7 emphasizes   

强调( emphasize的第三人称单数 )； 加强语气； 重读； 使突出

参考例句：

• Marx concentrates on the alienation of labour and emphasizes the invidious aspects. 马克思集中论述了劳动的异化，强调它令人厌恶的方面。
• What he emphasizes most is that we must walk the mass line. 他最强调的是我们必须走群众路线。

8 sequence   

n.连续，接续，一连串；次序，顺序

参考例句：

• He had to attend a sequence of meetings.他得参加一系列会议。
• The book is more satisfying if you read each chapter in sequence.这本书依次读各章会更好。

9 certainty   

n.必然的事，确定的事实，确信，确实

参考例句：

• I can't say with any certainty where I shall be next week.我不能确切地说下周我在什么地方。
• I know for a certainty that the company has been bought up.我确实知道公司已经被人收购了。

10 progressive   

adj.先进的；前进的，渐进的；进行式的

参考例句：

• There is often a progressive loss of sight in old age.上了年纪的人视力逐步减退。
• It's a progressive idea.这是一种进步的思想。

11 adjective   

n.形容词；adj.形容词的，用作形容词的

参考例句：

• Don't apply that adjective to me.不要用那个字眼来形容我。
• The adjective loose has several senses. 形容词loose有几个义项。