Perfect Tense

By: Musaadah

The perfect tenses are often used to show which of two actions happened first. The present tense the past tense, and future tense are used to express a single action which has been, or is about to be, completed. It is built using some form of the auxiliary to have (have, had, has, shall, will have) plus the past participle.

Example:
Past perfect:
I had answered your letter before you called me.

Because this is the past perfect, it uses had, the past form of to have as its auxiliary. It is easy to see that the action happened in the past, but also notice that the answering took place before the calling.

Present perfect :
Barrack Husein Obama has completed his assignment.
She has finished her homework.

Despite its name, this present perfect verb tense tells about actions that happened in the past, but the actions happened more recently (closer to the present) than if the past perfect tense were used. The two sentences below to understand the difference in meaning between the two tenses.

Present Perfect :
The car has delivered the load of topsoil.

Past Perfect:
The car had delivered the washing machine

Which action happened farthest in the past? Which action happened most recently? You can see that the present perfect refers to action that happened more recently.

The third form of the perfect tense is the future perfect.

Examples:
She will have launched the boat before the storm hits.
You shall have showered before I arrive.

Here the time frame is a little more difficult to see, but it is clear that the boat launching will definitely take place before the arrival of the storm. The future perfect uses the future form of the verb to have (shall have or will have). Here all the action definitely takes place in the future, but see how one action (launching and showering) takes place closer to the present than the other.