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The present perfect form is often called in German the "conversational past" while the simple past is often called the "narrative past". In Standard German, the sein -vs- haben distinction includes the intransitive-+-motion idea for sein ('to be') usage but is independent of the reflexive-voice difference when forming the Perfekt .
The basic (present) perfect form, with the auxiliary in the present tense, may specifically carry the meaning of perfect aspect, as in English; however in some languages it is used more generally as a past tense (or preterite), as in French and German. The use of auxiliaries and meaning of the constructions in various languages are described below.
Present perfect meaning. The perfect active can also be used like the English present perfect ('I have done'): [105] ecum et mūlum Brundisī tibī relīquī (Cicero) [106] 'I have left a horse and a mule for you at Brundisium' nunc quidem iam abiit pestilentia (Cicero) [107] 'the epidemic has now gone away' hīs dē rēbus scrīpsī ad ...
Past perfect (not progressive, perfect): "I had eaten" Past perfect progressive (progressive, perfect): "I had been eating" Aspects can also be marked on non-finite forms of the verb: "(to) be eating" (infinitive with progressive aspect), "(to) have eaten" (infinitive with perfect aspect), "having eaten" (present participle or gerund with ...
The terms perfective and perfect should not be confused. A perfect tense (abbreviated PERF or PRF) is a grammatical form used to describe a past event with present relevance, or a present state resulting from a past situation. For example, "I have put it on the table" implies both that I put the object on the table and that it is still there ...
Unlike the present perfect, the past perfect can readily be used with an adverb specifying a past time frame for the occurrence. For example, it is incorrect to say * I have done it last Friday (the use of last Friday , specifying the past time, would entail the use of the simple past , I did it , rather than the present perfect).
In Latin, the sequence of tenses rule affects dependent verbs in the subjunctive mood, mainly in indirect questions, indirect commands, and purpose clauses. [4] If the main verb is in one of the non-past tenses, the subordinate verb is usually in the present or perfect subjunctive (primary sequence); if the main verb is in one of the past tenses, the subordinate verb is usually in the ...
Proto-Indo-European verbs had present, perfect , imperfect and aorist forms – these can be considered as representing two tenses (present and past) with different aspects. Most languages in the Indo-European family have developed systems either with two morphological tenses (present or "non-past", and past) or with three (present, past and ...