Perfect tenses
Thanks
Top answer
"Perfect" derives from Latin "perfectus", meaning "accomplished". Latin had a past tense called "tempus perfectum": properly, the tense that means that an action (or state) has been accomplished, or, in other words, that it has come to an end: for example, "scripsi", "I wrote", as opposed to "scribébam", "I was writing", which is called "tempus im-perfectum" (hence the English "imperfect"), because the action of writing is seen in its duration, and is therefore "un-accomplished" ("im-" of "im-perfectum" = "not"). In English, I suppose that the "present perfect" (as, "I have run") is so called because it means that an action took place in the past, and is therefore "accomplished" ("perfect"), but it still lasts, in a certain sense, in the present (in its consequences: "I've run for my life [now I'm no more running, but, as a result, I'm alive]").
- "Perfect" derives from Latin "perfectus", meaning "accomplished".
- Latin had a past tense called "tempus perfectum": properly, the tense that means that an action (or state) has been accomplished, or, in other words, that it has come to an end: for example, "scripsi", "I wrote", as opposed to "scribébam", "I was writing", which is called "tempus im-perfectum" (hence the English "imperfect"), because the action of writing is seen in its duration, and is therefore "un-accomplished" ("im-" of "im-perfectum" = "not").
- In English, I suppose that the "present perfect" (as, "I have run") is so called because it means that an action took place in the past, and is therefore "accomplished" ("perfect"), but it still lasts, in a certain sense, in the present (in its consequences: "I've run for my life [now I'm no more running, but, as a result, I'm alive]").
- So it can be considered something intermediate between the present and the past (in other languages, as in Italian and French, the corresponding tense is considered a "past" tense).
- I hope I was not too confused.
Get the Weekly English Kit 📬
New words, one handy idiom, and a 2-minute quiz — delivered to your inbox to keep your streak alive.
Latin had a past tense called "tempus perfectum": properly, the tense that means that an action (or state) has been accomplished, or, in other words, that it has come to an end: for example, "scripsi", "I wrote", as opposed to "scribébam", "I was writing", which is called "tempus im-perfectum" (hence the English "imperfect"),
0
Related Questions