Could you please, help me?

Question

I'm suffering from misunderstanding these tenses when they are preceded by a modal verb.

have done something.
had done somthing.
If the above sentences were preceded by: could/ would/may..etc

Thanks in advance

Avangi · Accepted Answer

Hi fluent. Thanks for joining us. Welcome to English Forums.

Your question is quite broad. I'm thinking we can eliminate part of it, as I don't believe we use the modals you mention with the past perfect. "She may had done something."

Assuming you're comfortable with the simple present, the present perfect differs only in that the action has been completed at the present time.

I could take a walk if I hadn't lost my shoes. (simple present - the situation exists right now)

I could have taken a walk if I hadn't lost my shoes. (present perfect - the situation no longer exists - it's too late now)

I may lose my job. (simple present - the possibility of it happening exists right now)

I may have lost my job. (present perfect - it's possible that it's already happened)

I would love to go swimming. (simple present - this is the way I feel right now)

I would have loved to go swimming. (present perfect - but it's too late now.)

This is a huge subject. It would help if you could narrow it down with some specific examples .

Best wishes, - A.

Fluent · Answer

thank you very much I appreciate your interest.

CalifJim · Answer

Welcome to English Forums!

fluent'm suffering from misunderstanding these tenses when they are preceded by a modal verb.

Your terminology is wrong. Tenses are not preceded by modal verbs.

You have non-modal tenses, such as Present, Past, Present Perfect, etc. These do not contain any modal verbs, though they may contain auxiliaries like has, had, are, was, and so on.

know, finds, saw, decided, has seen, are taken, was heard, had been done, ...

And then you have modal tenses, which can be found in only two basic patterns:

1. the modal verb followed by a bare infinitive

can do, should see, will find, would say, may know, ...

2. the modal verb followed by have (never has or had) and a past participle

could have done, may have seen, would have thought, might have known, ...

To those basic patterns you can add the passive forms, which are, respectively:

1. the modal verb followed by be and a past participle

can be done, may be taken, should be seen, will be known, ...

2. the modal verb followed by have been and a past participle

might have been taken, would have been known, must have been seen, ...

CJ

Cool Breeze · Answer

fluenthave done something.
had done somthing.
If the above sentences were preceded by: could/ would/may..etc

I'm afraid I have to tell you that had done following a defective auxiliary (can, could; will, would; may, might; shall, should; must; ought) is always an incorrect collocation. Only an infinitive can follow a defective/modal auxiliary. Fortunately there are only two infinitives in English, two in the active and another two in the passive voice (for transitive verbs only). The verb to write, for example has the following infinitives:

Present active: [to] write; perfect active: [to] have written (= have + past participle)

Present passive: [to] be written; perfect passive: [to] have been written

As the names imply, the present infinitive very often refers to the present time or the future and the perfect infinitive often refers to the past. Not always, though, and this makes English a little messy. Unfortunately you'll just have to learn the countless ways in which the infinitives can be used. That takes years. There's no shortcut.

I'll give you a few examples.

I will write it tomorrow.

He can't have written this!

It must be written in Spanish.

This letter may have been written yesterday.

CB

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