ALL PERFECT TENSES in English - present perfect | past perfect | future perfect

There are 12 basic tenses in English. We have the present tenses, the past tenses,

and the future tenses. In today's lesson we are just going to focus on the perfect tenses.

Present perfect, past perfect, and future perfect. By comparing the perfect tenses, and only the perfect

tenses, we can compare them, and you can see how similar they are. Which makes them easier to learn.

If you haven't watched my first two videos

simple tenses and continuous tenses, I suggest you do that first before continuing with this lesson.

And keep your eyes peeled for my upcoming videos on the other tenses. If you subscribe to my channel

and turn on those notifications you won't miss a single one. My name's Arnel, let's start.

First we will look at the grammatical structures, and then we will get more specific about how we

use these tenses. Present perfect, past perfect, future perfect. Present perfect: subject have

or has plus the past participle. Remember to choose have or has depending on your subject.

And that past participle is verb number three. For example: eat, ate, eaten. Eaten is my

past participle verb number three. I have eaten at Rosario's. Imagine Rosario's is a restaurant.

Negative: I have not eaten at Rosario's. Question: Have you eaten at Rosario's?

Past perfect: subject had plus past participle. The good news is we use had for all subjects.

I had eaten at Rosario's. Negative: I had not eaten at Rosario's.

Had you eaten at Rosario's? Future perfect: subject will have plus past participle.

Again, the good news is we use will have for all subjects.

I will have eaten at Rosario's. I will not have eaten at Rosario's. Will you have eaten at Rosario's?

Okay, so we have the grammatical structures, and in this lesson I will keep the structures highlighted

for you - of course. So how do we use these tenses? Here I have my timelines: Present, past, and future.

I have eaten at Rosario's, I had eaten at Rosario's, I will have eaten at Rosario's.

The perfect tenses are really special because they emphasize an action before something else.

Present perfect, before now. Past perfect, before another past point.

Future perfect, before another future point. You can really see how similar these three are.

[Music]

I understand. Let's do these one at a time.

Present perfect, I have my timeline with the past and the present. I have been to Paris.

Kim has taken the TOEFL exam. My parents have seen my new house. He has finished his homework.

I know what some of you are thinking, isn't this the same as the past simple? Don't worry, we will

compare the past simple and the present perfect later. All of these actions happened, when? Before

the present. Do we know specifically when? No, but before now is relevant. What do I mean by

that, before now is relevant? There is a connection between the past action and the present. So let's

break this down, why would I say I have been to Paris? Maybe I'm having a coffee break at work and

one of my colleagues keeps talking and talking and talking and talking about her trip to Paris. And

she says to me: Arnel you have to go to Paris, you need to go to Paris. I can say: I have been there,

I have been to Paris, in fact I have been there three times. So you can stop talking about your

trip now. I'm emphasizing before now I have been there. I'm telling her I have had this experience.

Let's do another example, why would I say he has finished his homework?

Maybe two parents are talking. Dad: Is it okay that Louis is playing video games?

Mom: Yeah, he has finished his homework. Do we know specifically when? No, we don't care about

when. But the present is relevant. His past action means now he can play video games.

Okay, it's time for a common question: Past simple or present perfect? I have two columns here.

The present perfect is more general, we are interested in your past experience. Your past

experience before now. The past simple is more specific and we need to know specifically when.

So you can see in my examples here, I'm missing something.

I have been to Paris, but I went to Paris in 2003.

Kim has taken the TOEFL exam, but she took the TOEFL exam last week.

My parents have seen my new house, they saw my new house on Monday.

Louis has finished his homework, he finished his homework an hour ago.

Even though these are both completed past actions, the feeling is quite different. The

present perfect is really common in interviews. Why? Because the interviewer is interested in

your experience, not specifically when things happened. Let's take a look at a mini clip. This

is an interview with a famous American actress Jennifer Lawrence. I won't play the whole interview,

but I want you to hear the present perfect. I'm going to do this quickly so be prepared!

And what have you done for the first time recently, and what is your favorite movie

of all time, that you never get sick of? I mean, the movie I've seen the most and watch for any

occasion is Father of the Bride Two. What's the craziest thing you've ever seen here?

Um, the most fun I've ever had with actors on set is Josh and Liam, Hunger Games. Hi boys! They're

great. All right, let's Golf. We got a mini golf here. So what's the strangest thing a journalist

has ever asked you in an interview? What's the most bizarre thing that you've ever read about yourself?

What's the best piece of advice you've gotten about parenting? Babies don't get

bored. Okie dokie, in all of these examples we are just interested in the action or experience.

When before now, specifically when? Do. Not. Care. But earlier in the interview we hear this:

So when was the last time that you played mini golf? Never or like five years ago. On

Past simple, why? Because the interviewer is asking when specifically.

Okay, so we've looked at single past experiences or repeated past experiences. But what happens

if the action isn't finished? What happens if the actions started in the past and is still true now?

We can also use the present perfect. Jane has lived in Canada for 22 years.

I have had long hair my entire life.

They have known each other since kindergarten. For 22 years, my entire life, since kindergarten, all of

these tell us how long. And this is really common in the present perfect. Is there a connection

between the past and the present? Definitely. Are the situations still true today? Yes. Common mistake:

Jane is living in Canada for 22 years. Jane lives in Canada for 22 years. Remember we do

not use the present continuous or the present simple for that past to present connection.

Perfect. I'm going to use the same examples I used in the present perfect so you can really

see again how similar they are. Past perfect: An action completed before another past point.

Present perfect: I have been to Paris. When? Before now. Past perfect: I had been to Paris.

When? Before I started University. You can see I added the past simple here to make another

past point. The past perfect is always the action before another past point.

Let's do another example: Present perfect. My parents have seen my new house. Past perfect.

By the time I moved all of my furniture into my new house, my parents had already seen it.

Here in this example even though the past perfect comes second in the sentence, it's still clear

it happened before that past simple action. Present perfect. He has finished his homework.

Past perfect. Louis' Mom let him play video games (past simple) because he had finished his homework.

And just like the present perfect, the past perfect can also show a past to past connection.

The present perfect, remember a past to present connection?

Past perfect, let's move it back past to past connection. Jane was sad to move

because she had lived in Canada for 22 years. Past to past connection. I had had long hair

my entire life and it was really difficult for me to cut it. Had had? Is that possible? Yes, remember

the past perfect is had plus past participle. What's the past participle of have? Had, had had.

Nathan and Brian decided to open a business together. They had known each other since

kindergarten and trusted each other. I want you to take a look at a little clip.

This is a police interrogation. An interrogation is a police interview. This man is the detective and

this man is who the police think did the crime, he is the suspect. Police interrogations are a

great place to find the past perfect, because you need to speak about the past in detail.

Yeah. We didn't even know the first one had happened but uh, I understand that was

reasonably close as well, but the second one was uh... We didn't even know the first one had happened.

Here one means a crime, we didn't even know (past simple) that the first one had happened.

Again, the past perfect describes an action before another past action.

The first crime happened before they knew about it. Learned that you told me. Okay. So

I got an email, I can't remember if it was late at night early in the morning but certainly I

saw it uh... I want to say first thing in the morning, because I had just come back from Ottawa. I was in

Ottawa for... So he saw the email first thing in the morning. He had just come back from Ottawa.

Things like fingerprints blood samples things like that? Yeah. Okay,

um... The only two pieces of evidence that police had acquired at this point in time were the

tire tracks and the footprints outside the missing person's residence. At this point

in time, is a pastime. Before this the police had acquired tire tracks and footprints as evidence.

Right, let's compare the past simple and the past perfect.

Kim had taken the TOEFL exam, Kim took the TOEFL exam. Jane had lived in Canada for 22 years, Jane

lived in Canada for 22 years. I had had long hair my entire life, or I had long hair my

entire life. The past perfect actions again are actions that happened before another past action.

So in these examples here a few things are missing. In the past perfect column we don't

have that other past action as a reference. And what am I missing in my past simple column?

The specific time. Hmm... But something doesn't feel right. I had long hair my entire life? Past simple?

Am I still alive? Yes. Would I use past simple? No, in this case here you do need

to look at the situation. What tense would I use to describe a past to present connection?

Present perfect. I've had long hair my entire life. I could say, I mean I could talk about someone else

someone who is no longer alive. Mary Smith had long hair her entire life, that works. So whenever you

use a tense, you can't only look at the grammar, you also need to look at the logic of the situation.

It's time for the future perfect, and yep, I'm going to use the same example so again you can

see how similar they are. You just need to move the period to the present, the past, or the future.

The future perfect, a completed action. When? Before another Future Point.

Everyone has been to more countries than me.

You're going on a trip throughout Europe. By the end of the summer

you will have been to France, Germany, and Spain. That's more than most people.

What's my future point? By the end of the summer what will have happened before then? I will have

been to France, Germany, and Spain. Kim is so stressed about her TOEFL exam, she can't sleep.

In a few days she will have finished her TOEFL exam.

What's my future point? In a few days. What will have been finished by then?

Kim will have taken her TOEFL exam. I wanted to surprise my parents by showing them my new house.

But by the time I show them my new house (future point), they will have already seen it on Instagram.

Okay, let's keep going, and you might know what's coming next. We can use the future perfect for an

action that continues up to another future point. Jane has lived in Canada for a very long time.

By 2025 she will have lived in Canada for 22 years. And this action can either start in the past,

the present, or in the future. We don't really know, it depends on the situation.

How long has Dan been your assistant? Let me see, I hired him on my birthday, so on my next

birthday he will have been with me for eight years. You can see an action that continued up

to another future point. It's time to compare. Let's compare the future simple, and the future perfect.

You can see my two columns here: future perfect and future simple.

The future perfect emphasizes, what doesn't emphasize? A completed action before another future

point, that's really important. Completed before a future point or continued up to a future point.

The future simple does not depend on anything in the future, it's just when something will happen.

Your turn to practice, here is your homework: What is something you have done that you are proud of?

Past perfect, what is something you had done before you turned 18? If you're not 18 yet, think of a

different example. Future perfect, what is something you will have done by the time you turn 100?

Use these questions to help you practice, and think of really personal examples.

Perfect tenses review: The perfect tenses emphasize a completed action before something else

I have taught the present perfect many times before now.

When I completed my teacher training course, I had not taught the present perfect at all.

By the time I turn 40, I will have taught the present perfect many times .

The perfect tenses also describe an action that continues up to another point. Present perfect,

I have been a teacher for 12 years, up to now. By 2011 I had been a teacher for only one year.

In nine years, I will have been a teacher for half of my life.

Perfect tenses done. Don't forget to check out my next video on the perfect continuous

tenses. Thank you so much for watching this lesson, I'll see you next time! Bye!!!