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In Search of the Perfect
Neither of the two most common explanations of the present perfect tense are adequate, however
common they may be.
On the next page (Why is it Called Perfect?) you have an alternative explanation.
ONE
Here is a brief review of the form and function of the present perfect tense.
The present perfect is used when the time period has not finished:
I have seen three movies this week.
(This week has not finished yet.)
The present perfect is often used when the time is not mentioned:
Gerry has failed his exam again.
The present perfect is often used when the time is recent:
Ikuko has just arrived in Victoria.
The present perfect is often used with for and since.
Greg has lived here for 20 years.
Greg has lived here since 1978.
The Present Perfect Tense and the Simple Past Tense
The present perfect is used when the time period has NOT finished:
I have seen three movies this week.
(This week has not finished yet.)
The simple past is used when the time period HAS finished:
I saw three movies last week.
(Last week has finished.)
The present perfect is often used when giving recent news
Martin has crashed his car again.
(This is new information.)
The simple past is used when giving older information:
Martin crashed his car last year.
(This is old information.)
The present perfect is used when the time is not specific:
I have seen that movie already.
(We don't know when.)
The simple past is used when the time is clear:
I saw that movie on Thursday.
(We know exactly when.)
The present perfect is used with for and since, when the actions have not finished yet
I have lived in Victoria for five years.
(I still live in Victoria.)
The simple past is used with for and since, when the actions have already finished:
I lived in Victoria for five years.
(I don't live in Victoria now.)
TWO
The Present Perfect Tense.
The present perfect is used to define an action which has occurred in a period of time which is not yet
finished (e.g.: today, this week, the Quaternary) or when the period of time is not defined (i.e.: there is no
adverb of time in the sentence). The present perfect is always formed with the verb "to have" plus the past
participle which will be the same as the simple past for regular verbs (e.g.: work -> worked; appear ->
appeared) and formed in various peculiar ways for the irregular (e.g.: break -> broken; go -> gone; build ->
built) (see list of irregular verbs).
Why is it called “perfect”?
Perfect, from the Latin per- (a prefix meaning “completely, thoroughly”) plus fectus (the past participle of
the verb facere, “to do”) originally meant “completely done.” The modern sense of perfect as flawless or
impeccable extends the original meaning. In grammar, perfect still means complete, more specifically,
done as of the moment.
Note that “done as of the moment” does not mean necessarily mean finished or over, nor does it place the
action in the past. For example, say we are reading a book. We can speak of how much of the book we
have completed reading as of now (the present perfect), how much we will have completed by
tomorrow (the future perfect), or how much we had completed as of yesterday (the past perfect).
Also, the perfect always expresses completion, but it may be the action itself, a part of the action, a number
of times, or a period of time that is complete.
The action itself
They have been to the Grand Canyon.
A part of the action She has finished the first half of her project.
A number of times
We have seen that movie four times.
A period of time
He has lived in that house for 15 years.
In the present, we do not need to express the time. Have / has is always present, so we do not have to
express “as of now.” However, with the past (had) or the future (will have), we must indicate the
moment. We can do so in two ways:
By explicitly stating the time
By relating the completion to another event
We had finished our work by noon.
We will have finished by 5 p.m.
When I got there, they had already left.
She will have finished eating by the time
you arrive.
As you can see, the meaning of the perfect is not at all the same as that of the French passé compose,
which is usually translated into English as the simple past. However, since both tenses are formed with the
auxiliary have plus the past participle of the verb, they are often confused. Again, we find that we must
learn a language in its own terms, not as a translation of another language.
To summarize:
“Perfect” means “done” “as of the moment”.
Done:
the action itself, a part of the action, a number of times, or a period of time
As of the moment:
the moment may be in the past, present, or future
In the past or future, the moment must be explicit.
For further study: A Practical Exercise
Look through a text for any uses of the perfect. For each example, identify the two elements:
what is expressed as done and as of when it was done.