Report
“The perfect
tenses”
Astana 2010
How do we make the Present
Perfect Tense?
The structure of the present
perfect tense is:
| subject |
+ |
auxiliary verb |
+ |
main verb |
| |
|
have |
|
past participle |
Here are some examples of the
present perfect tense:
| |
subject |
auxiliary
verb |
|
main verb |
|
| + |
I |
have |
|
seen |
ET. |
| + |
You |
have |
|
eaten |
mine. |
| - |
She |
has |
not |
been |
to Rome. |
| - |
We |
have |
not |
played |
football. |
| ? |
Have |
you |
|
finished? |
|
| ? |
Have |
they |
|
done |
it? |
|
Contractions with the present
perfect tense
When we use the present perfect
tense in speaking, we usually contract the subject and auxiliary verb.
We also sometimes do this when we write.
| I have |
I've |
| You have |
You've |
He has
She has
It has
John has
The car has |
He's
She's
It's
John's
The car's |
| We have |
We've |
| They have |
They've |
|
Here are some examples:
- I've finished my
work.
- John's seen ET.
- They've gone home.
- How do we make
the Past Perfect Tense?
- The structure of
the past perfect tense is:
| subject |
+ |
auxiliary
verb HAVE |
+ |
main verb |
| |
conjugated
in simple past tense |
|
past participle |
| had |
V3 |
|
- For negative sentences
in the past perfect tense, we insert not between the auxiliary
verb and main verb. For question sentences, we exchange the subject
and auxiliary verb. Look at these example sentences with the
past perfect tense:
| |
subject |
auxiliary
verb |
|
main
verb |
|
| + |
I |
had |
|
finished |
my work. |
| + |
You |
had |
|
stopped |
before me. |
| - |
She |
had |
not |
gone |
to school. |
| - |
We |
had |
not |
left. |
|
| ? |
Had |
you |
|
arrived? |
|
| ? |
Had |
they |
|
eaten |
dinner? |
|
- When speaking with
the past perfect tense, we often contract the subject and auxiliary
verb:
| I had |
I'd |
| you had |
you'd |
he had
she had
it had |
he'd
she'd
it'd |
| we had |
we'd |
| they had |
they'd |
|
Future Perfect Tense
The future perfect tense
is quite an easy tense to understand and use. The future perfect tense
talks about the past in the future.
How do we make
the Future Perfect Tense?
The structure of the future
perfect tense is:
| subject |
+ |
auxiliary verb WILL |
+ |
auxiliary verb HAVE |
+ |
main verb |
| |
invariable |
|
invariable |
|
past participle |
| will |
have |
V3 |
|
Look at these example sentences
in the future perfect tense:
| |
subject |
auxiliary verb |
|
auxiliary verb |
main verb |
|
| + |
I |
will |
|
have |
finished |
by 10am. |
| + |
You |
will |
|
have |
forgotten |
me by then. |
| - |
She |
will |
not |
have |
gone |
to school. |
| - |
We |
will |
not |
have |
left. |
|
| ? |
Will |
you |
|
have |
arrived? |
|
| ? |
Will |
they |
|
have |
received |
it? |
|
In speaking with the future
perfect tense, we often contract the subject and will.
Sometimes, we contract the subject, will and have
all together:
| I will have |
I'll have |
I'll've |
| you will have |
you'll have |
you'll've |
he will have
she will have
it will have |
he'll have
she'll have
it'll have |
he'll've
she'll've
it'll've |
| we will have |
we'll have |
we'll've |
| they will have |
they'll have |
they'll've |
|
We sometimes use shall instead
of will, especially for I and we.
How do we use the
Future Perfect Tense?
The future perfect tense expresses
action in the future before another action in the future. This
is the past in the future. For example:
- The train will leave the
station at 9am. You will arrive at the station at 9.15am. When you arrive,
the train will have left.
| The train
will have left when you arrive. |
| past |
present |
future |
| |
|
Train leaves in future at 9am. |
|
| |
|
You arrive in future at 9.15am. |
|
Look at some more examples:
- You can call me at work
at 8am. I will have arrived at the office by 8.
- They will be tired when
they arrive. They will not have slept for a long time.
- "Mary won't be at home
when you arrive."
"Really? Where will she have gone?"
You can sometimes think of
the future perfect tense like the present perfect tense, but instead
of your viewpoint being in the present, it is in the future:
| present
perfect tense |
|
future perfect tense |
| |
|
have |
done |
> | |
|
|
|
|
will |
have |
done |
> | |
| past |
now |
future |
|
past |
now |
future |
|
|
|