past / past perfect / present perfect

[Ammar Al Husari]

hello everybody ,
SIMPLE PAST - PAST PERFECT - PRESENT PERFECT ,, actually i know when and how to use these tenses in our English language tests in school , but when i am up to speak English with anyone ,, i sometimes get mixed up between them , so is anyone ready to help out in how to use those tenses when i do have a conversation ?? in another way i really need a very simple explanation that i can remember when i am in a middle of a conversation ??

thanks

[OxfordBlues]

Hi Ammar,

When to use the simple past vesus the other two forms can be a little tricky and can change depending on the unique character of the individual verbs. This unique character of verbs is called aktionsart. Aktionsart is the temporal nature (time qualities) of a verb itself (versus aspect which deals with the whole sentence or phrase in which the verb is used).

Some verbs have a strong aktionsart. This aktionsart can be durational (having the character of ongoing or continuous action). Normally duration is expressed using the progressive aspect (I am running, I was running, I will be running). When a verb has a durational aktionsart, the progressive forms are not needed to show duration (because the verb itself is doing this). This is why it is possible to say "I work at a restaurant". Work has natural duration, so it is not necessary to say "I am working at Restaurant". Sometimes such verbs can be used with the progressive form to draw particular attention to the fact that this particular activity is occuring at a given time. For instance: "What are you doing? I'm working at the restaurant." (meaning that he is doing it right now).

Likewise, some verbs are naturally perfected. The term perfect when referring to languages means completed or finished. So, the term present perfect actually means that the verb is completed as of now (the present). Technically the correct description of this would be 'the perfected simple aspect in the present' because perfection (in this case perfected), aspect (in this case simple), and tense (in this case present) are all independent time attributes of the sentence. Past perfect means the verb was completed as of a specific time in the past, and Future Perfect means that the verb shall be completed as of a specific time in the future.

If a verb has a naturally perfected aktionsart, the perfected construction doesn't have to be used to show that the verb is completed. An example of this is the verb 'finish'. Finish has a naturally perfected aktionsart (meaning it has a natural end point, you don't finish over time, you are either finished or you're not). Because this verb is naturally perfected, you don't to say "I have finished," you can just say "I finished." You can still say "I have finished," but the perfected form is in essence repetitive because there is no reason to complete a completed verb.

Like I said, the whole issue of using the past simple versus the past perfect can be a tricky one because there is no list of verbs based on their aktionsart. However, if you have a need to express completion of the verb, you can use the perfected forms (it won't hurt).

When deciding when to use the the present, past, or future perfect, remember that the determining factor is the time at which the verb is completed.

With the Present, this means the verb is completed as of now. That is always the time for perfected forms in the present, so you never use a specific time when using the present perfect. For this reason you can't say "I have eaten dinner yesterday" because 'yesterday' is a specific time in the past.

With the Past, this means the verb was completed as of a specific time in the past. If you ever need to specify a time in the past, this means you need to use the past perfect. Likewise, when using the perfected forms in the past, it's important to always use a specific time. This time can either be exact "I had eaten dinner yesterday." The time can be a specified time from the present "I had talked to John two days ago." Or, it can be given as context "Even though it's 4pm I just ate lunch. I had eaten breakfast really late today." (the context of the conversation shows that the eating of breakfast happened at a time before the conversation is taking place)
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[Ammar Al Husari]

hi OxfordBlues ,,

first of all ,, i really would like to thank you for your efforts ,, then i really need to know your real name ,, so i can call you using that :)
thanks a lot dear :)