Present Imperfect

Question

We have been doing it. We have done it.Can I call We have been doing it a clause expressed in a sort of the Present Imperfect tense in contrast with the Present Perfect used in We have done it?

CalifJim · Accepted Answer

AnonymousPresent Imperfect

English doesn't have anything called "Present Imperfect". I don't think any other language does either.

AnonymousCan I call We have been doing it a clause expressed in a sort of the Present Imperfect tense in contrast with the Present Perfect used in We have done it?

No. You have got the terminology confused. The contrast is like this:

have done - Present perfect
have been doing - Present perfect continuous

All tenses with the -ing form of the verb are called continuous tenses. Although the past continuous of English is sometimes fairly close in meaning to the imperfect tenses of the Romance languages (e.g., Italian, French, and Spanish), it's not an exact match, and we don't have any "imperfect" tenses in English.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

CalifJimEnglish doesn't have anything called "Present Imperfect". I don't think any other language does either.

There are some languages which have the imperfect tenses/verb forms (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Imperfect), for example Slavic ones, or Spanish.

What I mean is a logical opposition of something which is "done and dusted" as in We have done it and something which is a sort of the unfinished business as in We have been doing it.

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousWhat I mean is a logical opposition of something which is "done and dusted" as in We have done it and something which is a sort of the unfinished business as in We have been doing it.

I see. Well, in any case there is no imperfect tense in English. However, if you wish you get into English linguistics (as opposed to "everyday English grammar") you can probably find scholarly articles on imperfect aspect in English.

We have a linguistics forum where you might like to start a discussion on this.

CJ

CalifJim · Answer

Anonymousimperfect tenses/verb forms (here ), for example Slavic

I don't think there's much left of the imperfect tense left in the Slavic languages these days.

Verbs are either perfective or imperfective in most Slavic languages, but these are verb classes, not tenses. I'm told that these terms must not be confused with the terms 'perfect' and 'imperfect' even though the terms sound alike.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

CalifJimI don't think there's much left of the imperfect tense left in the Slavic languages these days.

For example, in Polish you may say He did it in two ways: a perfect one when the doing was completed/finished and an imperfect one when the doing was/is unfinished. The difference between the two verb/tense forms is in the prefix "z" added to the Polish version of the verb "do"; the verb with "z" is in the perfect tense, the one without it is in the imperfect one.

CalifJim · Answer

AnonymousFor example, in Polish you may say He did it in two ways: a perfect one when the doing was completed/finished and an imperfect one when the doing was/is unfinished.

Modern terminology says that the one verb (no 'z') is an imperfective verb, and that the other verb (with 'z') is a perfective verb— not imperfect tense and perfect tense.

If the conjugations are as I suspect, you can't add the prefix 'z' to every verb in Polish to create a perfective verb from an imperfective verb. That's why these are not tenses; they are verb classes. (I suspect the verb for "to see" needs a 'u' instead of a 'z', but that's just because I know a smattering of Russian.)

Anonymousthe verb with "z" is in the perfect tense, the one without it is in the imperfect one.

I have already explained that these are not tenses. These are perfective-imperfective verb pairs. The form that is most like English "did" in meaning is the past tense of the perfective verb of the verb pair. The form that is most like English "was doing" in meaning is the past tense of the imperfective verb of the verb pair. If Polish is anything like Russian, you form the past tense by adding "L", and you do that for all verbs.

CJ

Anonymous · Answer

CalifJimIf the conjugations are as I suspect, you can't add the prefix 'z' to every verb in Polish to create a perfective verb from an imperfective verb.

That's right, I've only exemplified it with the Polish version of the verb "do". The prefixes may differ. In Russian, again for example, the prefix "?" [Cyrillic script] put in the Russian version of English "do" makes the perfective form whereas without it imperfective one.

Present Imperfect

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