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Passé Composé

The present perfect is a grammatical combination of the present tense and perfect aspect used to express a past event with present consequences. In English, it is formed using the present tense of "have" plus the past participle of the main verb. Analogous forms exist in other languages like German, French, and Italian, though they may have different usages. In English, the present perfect is used chiefly to focus on the present result of a past event rather than the moment it occurred, while the simple past is used to specify a particular past time frame. It can also describe ongoing or habitual situations continuing to the present time based on time expressions like "for" or "since." French has a similar construction called the passé compos

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45 views2 pages

Passé Composé

The present perfect is a grammatical combination of the present tense and perfect aspect used to express a past event with present consequences. In English, it is formed using the present tense of "have" plus the past participle of the main verb. Analogous forms exist in other languages like German, French, and Italian, though they may have different usages. In English, the present perfect is used chiefly to focus on the present result of a past event rather than the moment it occurred, while the simple past is used to specify a particular past time frame. It can also describe ongoing or habitual situations continuing to the present time based on time expressions like "for" or "since." French has a similar construction called the passé compos

Uploaded by

Kamil Ibra
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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The 

present perfect is a grammatical combination of the present tense and perfect aspect that is


used to express a past event that has present consequences.[1] The term is used particularly in the
context of English grammar to refer to forms like "I have finished". The forms are present because
they use the present tense of the auxiliary verb have, and perfect because they use that auxiliary in
combination with the past participle of the main verb. (Other perfect constructions also exist, such as
the past perfect: "I had eaten.")
Analogous forms are found in some other languages, and they may also be described as present
perfect; they often have other names such as the German Perfekt, the French passé composé and
the Italian passato prossimo. They may also have different ranges of usage: in all three of the
languages just mentioned, the forms in question serve as a general past tense, at least for
completed actions.
In English, completed actions in many contexts are referred to using the simple past verb form rather
than the present perfect. English also has a present perfect continuous (or present perfect
progressive) form, which combines present tense with both perfect aspect
and continuous (progressive) aspect: "I have been eating". The action is not necessarily complete;
and the same is true of certain uses of the basic present perfect when the verb expresses a state or
a habitual action: "I have lived here for five years."
The present perfect in English is used chiefly for completed past actions or events when it is
understood that it is the present result of the events that is focused upon, rather than the moment of
completion. No particular past time frame is specified for the action/event. When a past time frame
(a point of time in the past, or period of time which ended in the past) is specified for the event,
explicitly or implicitly, the simple past is used rather than the present perfect.
The tense may be said to be a sort of mixture of present and past. It always implies a strong
connection with the present and is used chiefly in conversations, letters, newspapers and TV and
radio reports.[2]
It can also be used for ongoing or habitual situations continuing up to the present time (generally not
completed, but the present time may be the moment of completion). That usage describes for how
long or since when something has been the case, normally based on time expressions with "for" or
"since" (such as for two years, since 1995). Then, the present perfect continuous form is often used,
if a continuing action is being described.
For examples, see Uses of English verb forms § Present perfect as well as the sections of that
article relating to the simple past, present perfect continuous, and other perfect forms.
French has no present perfect aspect. However, it has a grammatical form that is constructed in the
same way as is the present perfect in English, Spanish, and Portuguese by using a conjugated form
of (usually) avoir "to have" plus a past participle. The term passé composé (literally "compound
past") is the standard name for this form, which has perfective aspect rather than perfect aspect. The
French simple past form, which also conveys perfective aspect, is analogous to the German simple
past in that it has been largely displaced by the compound past and relegated to narrative usage.
In standard French, a verb that is used reflexively takes être ("to be") rather than avoir ("to have") as
auxiliary in compound past tenses (passé composé, plus-que-parfait, passé antérieur, futur
antérieur). In addition, a small set of about 20 non-reflexive verbs also use être as auxiliary (some
students memorize these using the acrostic mnemonic "DR & MRS VAN DER TRAMP").

 J'ai mangé (I have eaten)


 Tu es venu(e) (You have come, literally you are come.)
 Nous sommes arrivé(e)s (We have arrived, literally we are arrived.)
 Vous vous êtes levé(e)(s) (You have got up, reflexive verb, literally you have raised
yourself/selves)
1) Actions started in the past and continuing in the present:

 We have lived in Sapporo for eleven years.


2) When the time period referred to has not finished:

 It has rained a lot this year.


3) Actions repeated in an unspecified period between the past and now:

 We have eaten at that restaurant many times.


4) Actions completed in the very recent past (+just):

 Have you just finished work?
5) When the precise time of the action is not important or not known:

 She has studied Japanese, Russian and English.

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