Perfect Tense: Expressing the Duration of Actions or States

Time System (Tense)

Every language has ways of showing when an action, event, or state takes place in relation to the present. English is no exception. For instance, if I say, “I went to school,” you can tell that I am referring to a past event because the verb “went” is in the simple past tense. In English, the time reference of an action, event, or state is determined mainly by the form of the verb used in the sentence.

In English, there are three main tense systems used to express time: the present, the past, and the perfect.

Some may argue that the future should also be included. However, this article focuses on the present, the past, and the perfect because English doesn’t have a future tense in the same sense that it has past and perfect forms. In many cases, future meaning is expressed with the auxiliary verb “will” and the base form of a verb rather than through a distinct tense form.

Here is a brief summary of the time range each tense form can cover.

In this article, we will examine the meaning of the perfect tense and the way it is used in English sentences.

Perfect Tense

The perfect tense has two main forms: the present perfect and the past perfect.

• Present perfect: links a past action, event, or state to the present.
• Past perfect: places an action, event, or state before another point in the past.

Although these two forms refer to different time frames, they are similar in one important way. Both express a relationship between an action, event, or state and another point in time. For that reason, the perfect tense is different from the simple past, which presents something simply as a completed fact in the past.

To better understand the difference between the simple past and the perfect tenses, let’s compare the following simple past sentence with its present perfect and past perfect variants.

I opened the door for you.

This sentence is in the simple past, so it presents the action of opening the door as a completed event in the past. Because it’s expressed in the simple past, the sentence doesn’t by itself show any connection between that action and the present.

I have opened the door for you.

This time, the sentence is in the present perfect tense. As explained above, the present perfect connects a past action to the present rather than simply presenting it as a completed event in the past.

In this sentence, the speaker suggests that the action of opening the door still matters now. For example, the door is now open for the other person, or the action is relevant to the present situation.

One difficulty with the present perfect is that, without enough context, it may not be immediately clear whether the sentence expresses continuation, experience, or a present result. In everyday conversation, however, the surrounding context usually makes the intended meaning clear.

We will return to this point in more detail later in the article.

I had opened the door for you from Monday to Wednesday this week.

Here, the past perfect is used to show a state that continued up to a certain point in the past. Unlike the present perfect, which connects a past action or state to the present, the past perfect relates it to another point in the past.

In this sentence, the important idea is not simply that the speaker opened the door. Rather, it is that the state of the door being open continued until Wednesday, which is treated as a past reference point.

This is one way the past perfect can be used: it can describe a state or result that had continued up to a certain moment in the past.

Present Perfect

The present perfect is formed with have or has plus the past participle.

The present perfect tense connects a past action, event, or state to the present. For this reason, it is commonly used in three main ways. The intended meaning depends largely on the context.

• Continuation: an action or state began in the past and continues up to the present.
• Experience: the speaker has had a certain experience at some point in life up to now.
• Recent completion: an action has just been completed and still has present relevance.

One important point to note is the difference between the present perfect and the simple past. The simple past presents something as a finished event in the past, whereas the present perfect connects it to the present.

The present perfect is also not normally used with finished past time expressions such as “yesterday,” “last year,” or “in 2020.” In those cases, the simple past is usually more natural.

Example Present Perfect Sentences

She has lived in the US for five years.

This sentence typically expresses continuation. It shows that she started living in the US in the past and still lives there now. Depending on the context, however, it may also be interpreted more broadly as referring to her experience of living in the country for five years.

I have visited Kyoto three times.

This sentence expresses experience. It means that the speaker has had the experience of visiting Kyoto, but it does not focus on one specific time in the past.

We have lost our tickets.

This sentence shows a present result. The loss happened in the past, but the important point is that the tickets are still missing now.

The teacher has not arrived yet.

This sentence shows a present result with a negative form. The important idea is that the teacher is still not here now.

Have you ever tried Ethiopian food?

This sentence asks about experience. The question is not about one particular time, but about whether the listener has had that experience at any point up to now.

Past Perfect

The past perfect is formed with had plus the past participle.

The past perfect tense is used to describe an action, event, or state that happened before another point in the past. In other words, it places one past action, event, or state further back in time than another past moment.

For this reason, the past perfect is useful when a writer or speaker wants to make the order of two past points especially clear. It can be used not only for earlier actions, but also for states or results that had continued up to a certain moment in the past.

For example, if someone says, “She had lived in the US for five years before she moved to Italy,” the sentence shows that her living in the US came earlier and continued until the later past event of moving to Italy. In the same way, a sentence like “We had lost our tickets before we arrived at the station” shows that the loss happened first and that its result was already true at the later past moment.

This is what makes the past perfect different from the present perfect. The present perfect connects a past action, event, or state to the present, whereas the past perfect connects it to another point in the past.

Example Past Perfect Sentences

She had lived in the US for five years before she moved to Italy.

This sentence expresses continuation up to a past point. It shows that she started living in the US earlier and that this situation continued until the later past event of moving to Italy.

I had visited Kyoto twice before I entered college.

This sentence expresses an earlier past experience. The visits happened before another point in the past, which is entering college.

He had just finished his homework when his friend called.

This sentence expresses recent completion relative to a past moment. The homework was already finished at the time of the phone call.

As these examples show, the past perfect is used in several different ways, but all of them involve a relationship between one past action, event, or state and another point in the past.