The Perfect Tense

     The perfect tenses expresses action that is already completed. The present perfect tense expresses a present action that began in the past and is now completed in the present. The past perfect tense expresses an action that began in the past, was completed in the past before something else occurred. The future perfect tense expresses an action that will be completed by some point in the future.

  ·        Present Perfect Tense

     The present perfect tense refers to an action or state that either occurred at an indefinite time in the past (e.g., we have talked before) or began in the past and continued to the present time (e.g., he has grown impatient over the last hour). This tense is formed by have /has + the past participle.

     The construction of this verb tense is straightforward. The first element is have or has, depending on the subject the verb is conjugated with. The second element is the past participle of the verb, which is usually formed by adding -ed or -d to the verb’s root (e.g., walked, cleaned, typed, perambulated, jumped, laughed, sautéed) although English does have quite a few verbs that have irregular past participles (e.g., done, said, gone, known, won, thought, felt, eaten).

The following sentences are some examples of the use of the Present Perfect Tense:

• I have seen that movie twenty times.
• I think I have met him once before.
• There have been many earthquakes in California.
• People have traveled to the Moon.

·        Past Perfect Tense

    The past perfect, also called the pluperfect, is a verb tense used to talk about actions that were completed before some point in the past.

We were shocked to discover that someone had graffitied “Tootles was here” on our front door. We were relieved that Tootles had used washable paint.

     The past perfect tense is for talking about something that happened before something else. Imagine waking up one morning and stepping outside to grab the newspaper. On your way back in, you notice a mysterious message scrawled across your front door: Tootles was here. When you’re telling this story to your friends later, how would you describe this moment? You might say something like: I turned back to the house and saw that some someone named Tootles had defaced my front door!


The following sentences are some examples of the use of the Past Perfect Tense:

• She stayed up all night because she had received bad news.
• They lost many of the games because they had not practiced enough.
• Anthony had met Ryan before you introduced him to us at the party.
• You had studied Italian before you moved to Rome.
 

·                ·     Future Perfect Tense

     The future perfect is a verb tense used for actions that will be completed before some other point in the future. The future perfect tense is for talking about an action that will be completed between now and some point in the future. Imagine that your friend Linda asks you to take care of her cat for a few days while she goes on a trip. She wants you to come over today at noon so she can show you where to find the cat food and how to mash it up in the bowl just right so that Fluffy will deign to eat it. But you’re busy this afternoon, so you ask Linda if you can come at eight o’clock tonight instead.

The following sentences are some examples of the use of the Future Perfect Tense:

• I will have finished this book.
• You will have studied the English tenses.
• She will have cooked dinner.
• He will have arrived.

Perfect Tenses Practice

 1. Fill out the boxes with the respective verb tenses. 

Present Tense	Past Perfect Tense	Present Perfect	Future Perfect Tense
Wait		Has waited
	Had gone
			Will have washed
Work
		Have studied

•          Online Practice 

2. Fill out the blank spaces with the correct present perfect tense.

1. I (not / work) today.
2. We (buy) a new lamp.
3. We (not / plan) our holiday yet.
4. Where (be / you) ?
5. He (write) five letters.
6. She (not / see) him for a long time.
7. (be / you) at school?
8. School (not / start) yet.
9. (speak / he) to his boss?
10. No, he (have / not) the time yet.

Review of Perfect Tenses in English Grammar

References:

• https://grammar.collinsdictionary.com/es/gramatica-de-aprendizaje-espanol/the-perfect-tense
• https://examples.yourdictionary.com/past-perfect-tense-examples.html
• https://www.englishpage.com/verbpage/presentperfect.html
• https://www.ego4u.com/en/cram-up/grammar/present-perfect-simple/exercises