English
Noun
perfect tense, plural perfect tenses
- a verb form indicating that an action or state has been completed at the present time, in the past, or will be completed in the future. English has three perfect tenses:
:*present perfect
:*past perfect
:*future perfect
Usage notes
English forms the perfect tenses with a verb phrase made up of the auxiliary verb have plus the past participle of the main verb (e.g., love).
{| border"1" cellpadding"3" cellspacing="0"
|-
! Verb
! Present perfect
! Past perfect
! Future perfect
|-
| love
| has/have loved
| had loved
| will/shall have loved
|-
| go
| has/have gone
| had gone
| will/shall have gone
|}
In addition to the regular perfect tenses, English can create other variations with various other auxiliary verbs. The verb phrase in the main clause of the first example could be called a conditional perfect tense:
"He would have ridden his bicycle if it had not rained."
"She was about to have gone home." (Or "She was going to have gone home.")
"They had been going for a swim every Thursday."
Category:Tenses
io:perfect tense
fi:perfect tense
tr:perfect tense
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