SCG Language Tutorials English Grammar - English Verbs

PAST PERFECT

Past Perfect Verb Conjugation

The Past Perfect is constructed using the past tense of “to have” as the auxiliary, or helping verb, this way:

subject + had + past participle

The conjugation is fairly simple: only the subject changes. The auxiliary or helping verb ("had") and the past participle are the same for all subjects.

Here are some examples of Past Perfect tense verbs with the subject pronouns I, you, he/she/it, we, you and they.

1.    I had talked. I had smoked. I had danced. I had eaten.

2.    You had talked. You had smoked. You had danced. You had eaten.

3.    He/she/it had talked. He/she/it had smoked. He/she/it had danced. He/she/it had eaten.

4.    We had talked. We had smoked. We had danced. We had eaten.

5.    You (all) had/you had (all) talked. You (all) had/you had (all) smoked. You (all) had/you had (all) danced. You (all) had/you had (all) eaten.

6.    They had talked. They had smoked. They had danced. They had eaten.

Past Perfect Verb Forms

1.    Affirmative Usage

(I had studied. You had studied. He/she/it had studied. We had (all) studied. You (all) had/you had (all) studied. They had (all) studied.)

2.    Negative Usage

(I had not studied. You had not studied. He/she/it had not studied. We had not studied. None of us had studied/neither of us had studied. [Not “We all had not studied”, or “both of us had not studied”] None of you had studied.  Neither of you had studied. [Not “You all had not studied”, or “both of you had not studied”] They had not studied/ none of them had studied. Neither of them had studied. [Again, not “They all had not studied”, or “both of them had not studied”])

3.    Yes/No Questions

(Had I studied? Had you studied? Had he/she/it studied? Had we (all) studied? Had either of us studied? Had any of us studied? Had any of you studied? Had either of you studied? Had they studied? Had either of them studied? Had any of them studied?)

4.    Short Answers

(Yes, I had. No, I hadn't. Yes, you had. No, you hadn't. Yes, he/she /it had. No, he/she /it hadn't. Yes, we had. No, we hadn't. / Yes, some of us had. / No, none of us had. Yes, you had. No, you hadn't. / Yes, you both had. No, neither of you had. / Yes, some of you had. No, none of you had. Yes, they had. No, they hadn’t. Yes, they both had. No, neither of them had. / Yes, some of them had. No, none of them had. / Yes, they all had (Yes, all of them had). / No, none of them had.) [“None” = “Not one” or “No one”, “Neither” = “Not one of the two”.]

5.    W/H- Questions

(e.g., When had she studied English? Where had he travelled? Who had you visited? What had I done? Where had they been? How had you managed to survive?)

Past Perfect Function

The function of the Past Perfect is to talk about an event/activity that was completed before another event/activity or time in the past.

When using this tense, there will always be two past events or activities, or an event/activity and a particular time in the past.

Here are some sentences showing the use of the Past Perfect [you'll notice that the Simple Past is used in the second part of the sentences that have two events/activities]:

I had already gone to bed by the time you got home.

She had already studied English for six months when she left for the United States.

He had finished his dessert before I even started my entrée.

Her older brother had graduated from college before she started high school.

We had fallen asleep by 9 o'clock.

The above sentences could also be written without using the Past Perfect tense, like this:

 As frases acima também pode ser escrita sem o uso do pretérito perfeito, como isto:

I went to bed before you got home.

She studied English for six months before she left for the United States.

He finished dessert before I even started my entrée.

Her older brother graduated from college before she started high school.

We fell asleep before 9 o'clock.

Note: Whenever "before" or "after" are used, the Past Perfect tense is optional because the sequence of events is clear.

The two events or the event and the particular time do not both need to be included in the same sentence when the other event/activity or time is understood from the context of the conversation.

Challenges:-

Remember to use the correct past participle and practice with both regular and irregular verbs from the verb lists.

The Past Perfect tense can be used where you wish to emphasise the sequence of actions, otherwise the Simple Past can be used instead.

PRESENT PERFECT

Present Perfect Verb Conjugation

The Present Perfect is constructed using the present tense of “to have” as the auxiliary, or helping verb, this way:

subject + have/has + past participle

Here are some examples of verb conjugation using the subject pronouns I, you, she/he/it, we, you and they.

1.    I have talked. I have walked. I have danced. I have eaten.

2.    You have talked. You have walked. You have danced. You have eaten.

3.    He/she/it has talked. He/she/it has walked. He/she/it has danced. He/she/it has eaten.

4.    We have talked. We have walked. We have danced. We have eaten. We have both talked. We have both walked. We have both danced. We have both eaten. (Or: Both of us have talked. Both of us have walked. Both of us have danced. Both of us have eaten.) Some of us have talked. Some of us have walked. Some of us have danced. Some of us have eaten. We have all talked. We have all walked. We have all danced. We have all eaten.

5.    You have talked. You have walked. You have danced. You have eaten. You have both talked. You have both walked. You have both danced. You have both eaten. (Or: Both of you have talked. Both of you have walked. Both of you have danced. Both of you have eaten.) Some of you have talked. Some of you have walked. Some of you have danced. Some of you have eaten.  You have all talked. You have all walked. You have all danced. You have all eaten. (Or: All of you have...)

6.    They have talked. They have walked. They have danced. They have eaten. Both of them have talked. Both of them have walked. Both of them have danced. Both of them have eaten. Some of them have talked. Some of them have walked. Some of them have danced. Some of them have eaten. They have all talked. They have all walked. They have all eaten.

(N.B. "They have both..." can be used but it sounds clumsy. Its use is reserved for an assertion, or positive emphasis in response to or correcting an opposite statement. For example: “They look hungry.” “But they have both eaten a big dinner!”)

Examples:

She has acted in many plays.

We have eaten together many times.

I have already seen that movie.

Present Perfect Verb Forms

1. Affirmative Usage

(I have studied English. You have studied English. He/she/it has studied English. We have studied English. Both of us have studied English. Some of us have studied English. All of us have studied English. We have all studied English. You have studied English. Both of you have studied English. Some of you have studied English. All of you have studied English. You have all studied English. They have studied English. Both of them have studied English. Some of them have studied English. All of them have studied English. They have all studied English.)

1. Negative Usage

(I have not learned Brazilian. You have not learned Brazilian. He/she/it has not learned Brazilian. We have not learned Brazilian. Neither of us has learned Brazilian. Some of us have not learned Brazilian. None of us have learned Brazilian. You have not learned Brazilian. Neither of you have learned Brazilian. Some of you have not learned Brazilian. None of you have learned Brazilian. They have not learned Brazilian. Neither of them has learned Brazilian. Some of them have not learned Brazilian. None of them has learned Brazilian.)

1. Yes/No Questions

(Have I studied? Have you studied? Has he/she/it studied? Have we studied? Has either of us studied? Have any of us studied? Have we all studied? Have you studied? Have either of you studied? [Or: Have you both studied?] Have any of you studied? Have you all studied? Have they studied? Has either of them studied? [Or: Have they both studied?] Have any of them studied? Have they all studied?) [Not “Have all of them studied?”]

1. Short Answers

(Yes, I have. No, I have not. Yes, you have. No, you have not. Yes, he/she/it has. No, he/she/it has not. Yes, we have. No, we have not. Yes, both of us have. No, neither of us has. Yes, some of us have. No, none of us have. Yes, you have. No, you have not. Yes, both of you have. No, neither of you has. Yes, some of you have. No, none of you have. Yes, they have. No, they have not. Yes, they both have. No, neither of them has. Yes, some of them have. No, none of them have. [“Has not” and “have not” can be replaced by “hasn’t” and “haven’t”])

1. W/H- Questions

(e.g. Where have you travelled to in Spain? Why has he given up? What has she done? When have we been so happy? Who have you seen tonight? How have they learned English so quickly?)

Functions of the Present Perfect Tense

Here are the three functions of this verb tense. They can seem a little confusing at first sight:

1.    Unspecified time

2.    Repetition of an activity

3.    Started in the past and continues until the present, may or may not continue into the future (there just isn't a short way to describe this function)

Function 1: Unspecified time

The Present Perfect verb tense can be used to express something in the past, when:

1.    We don't know when it happened (e.g., I have lost my keys), or

2.    When it happened is not important (e.g., She has travelled to Ethiopia before).

To avoid confusion with the Simple Past, remember that the key is whether a time was specified or not.

Compare Present Perfect usage to Simple Past usage:

Present Perfect: "I have travelled to Europe." In this sentence, no time is specified.

Simple Past: "I travelled to Europe in 2004." The Simple Past is used when a time is specified. The specified time could be "this morning," "yesterday," "at 6pm," "when I was a child," etc.

Function 2: Repetition

The Present Perfect is used to describe something that has happened many times (or more than once) in the past.

For example, "I've travelled to Brazil many times," "I've eaten at that restaurant twice," "John Grisham has written several books." [“I’ve” = “I have”]

Function 3: An action that started in the past, continues until now, and may or may not continue into the future

For example, "I've lived in this city since 1995."

[This tense can be replaced with the Present Perfect Continuous when emphasizing duration. For example, "I've been watching soap operas since 1970" or "I've been waiting for you for ten minutes." (Note that the duration does not have to be long to use the Continuous form of the tense. The point is that the speaker wishes to emphasize the duration. You'll notice that "for" and "since" are often clues to the use of the correct tense.)]

Challenges:-

(1) Subject-verb agreement with the correct helping verb (have/has).

(2) Deciding when to use the Present Perfect or the Simple Past tense to express something that happened in the past.

(3) Knowing the correct past participle of some irregular verbs.

FUTURE PERFECT

Future Perfect Verb Conjugation

The Future Perfect is constructed this way:

subject + will have + past participle.

The conjugation is fairly simple: only the subject changes. Here are some examples with the subject pronouns I, you, he/she/it, we, you and they.

I will have talked. I will have walked. I will have danced. I will have eaten.

You will have talked. You will have walked. You will have danced. You will have eaten.

He/she/it will have talked. He/she/it will have walked. He/she/it will have danced. He/she/it will have eaten.

We will have talked. We will have walked. We will have danced. We will have eaten. We will both have talked. We will both have walked. We will both have danced. We will both have eaten. [Or: “Both of us will have ... “ can be used to mean the same thing] Some of us will have talked. Some of us will have walked. Some of us will have danced. Some of us will have eaten. We will all have talked. We will all have walked. We will all have danced. We will all have eaten. [ Or: “All of us will have ...” to emphasise the action]

You will have talked. You will have walked. You will have danced. You will have eaten. Both of you will have talked. Both of you will have walked. Both of you will have danced. Both of you will have eaten. [Or: “You will both have ...” can be used to mean the same thing] Some of you will have talked. Some of you will have walked. Some of you will have danced. Some of you will have eaten. All of you will have talked. All of you will have walked. All of you will have danced. All of you will have eaten. [Or: “You will all have ...” but not “You all will have ...” as that is American]

They will have talked. They will have walked. They will have danced. They will have eaten. Both of them will have talked. Both of them will have walked. Both of them will have danced. Both of them will have eaten. [Or: “They will both have ...”] Some of them will have talked. Some of them will have walked. Some of them will have danced. Some of them will have eaten.  All of them will have talked. All of them will have walked. All of them will have danced. All of them will have eaten. [Or: “They will all have ...”]

Future Perfect Verb Form

1.    Affirmative Usage

(I will have studied. You will have studied. He/she/it will have studied. We will have studied. Both of us will have studied. Some of us will have studied. All of us will have studied. You will have studied. Both of you will have studied. Some of you will have studied. All of you will have studied. [Or: “You will all have studied”, but not “You all will have studied”, as this is American] They will have studied. Both of them will have studied. [Or; “They will both have studied.”] Some of them will have studied. All of them will have studied. [Or: “They will all have studied.”]

2.    Negative Usage

(I won't have travelled. You won't have travelled. He/she/it won't have travelled. We won't have travelled. Neither of us will have travelled. Some of us won’t have travelled. Most of us won’t have travelled. None of us will have travelled. You won't have travelled. Neither of you will have travelled. Some of you won’t have travelled. Most of you won’t have travelled. None of you will have travelled. They won't have travelled. Neither of them will have travelled. Some of them won’t have travelled. Most of them won’t have travelled. None of them will have travelled. )

3.    Yes/No Questions

(Will I have spoken? Will you have spoken? Will he/she/it have spoken? Will we have spoken? Will either of us have spoken? Will any of us have spoken? Will we all have spoken? [Or: “Will all of us have spoken?” – can be used.] Will you have spoken? Will either of you have spoken? Will any of you have spoken? Will you all have spoken? [Or: “Will all of you have...”] Will they have spoken? Will either of them have spoken? Will any of them have spoken? Will most of them have spoken? Will they all have spoken? [Or: “Will all of them have spoken.”)

4. Short Answers

(Yes, I will. No, I won't. Yes, you will. No, you won't. Yes, he/she/it will. No, he/she/it won't. Yes, they will. No, they won't. Yes, we will. No, we won't.)*  [“won’t” = “will not”]

*Note: "Have" is sometimes added to the Short Answer form; e.g., Yes, I will have. No, I won't have.

5. W/H- Questions

(e.g., When will she have studied? Where will you have travelled? How much weight will they have lost?)

Function of Future Perfect Tense

The Future Perfect is used to express an activity that will be completed by another time or event in the future. It's usually used with a time clause, for example, "by the time" or "by next week." If the time clause uses a verb, it will use the Present Simple tense.

Here are some examples:

By the time I finish dinner, you will have eaten two desserts!

By the time she sees her son again he will have been in Afghanistan for two years.

She will have studied English for six months by the time she leaves for the United States.

We will have learned all the English verb tenses by the end of the year.

Challenges:-
Using the correct past participle of irregular English verbs.