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The perfect tense or aspect (abbreviated ' or ') is a verb form that indicates that an action or circumstance occurred earlier than the time under consideration, often focusing attention on the resulting state rather than on the occurrence itself. An example of a perfect construction is I have made dinner. Although this gives information about a prior action (the speaker's making of the dinner), the focus is likely to be on the present consequences of that action (the fact that the dinner is now ready). The word perfect in this sense means "completed" (from Latin perfectum, which is the perfect passive participle of the verb perficere "to complete").
In traditional Latin verbs and Ancient Greek grammar, the perfect tense is a particular, conjugated-verb form. Modern analyses view the perfect constructions of these languages as combining elements of grammatical tense (such as time reference) and grammatical aspect. The Greek perfect tense is contrasted with the aorist and the imperfect tenses and specifically refers to completed events with present consequences; its meaning is thus similar to that of the English construction, "have/has (done something)". The Latin perfect tense is contrasted only with the imperfect tense (used for past incomplete actions or states) and is thus used to mean both "have/has done something" and "did something" (the preterite use). Other related forms are the pluperfect, denoting an event prior to a past time of reference, and the future perfect, for an event prior to a future time of reference.
In the grammar of some modern languages, particularly of English grammar, the perfect may be analyzed as an aspect that is independent of tense – the form that is traditionally just called the perfect ("I have done") is then called the present perfect, while the form traditionally called the pluperfect ("I had done") is called the past perfect. (There are also additional forms such as future perfect, conditional perfect, and so on.) The formation of the perfect in English, using forms of an auxiliary verb ( have) together with the past participle of the main verb, is paralleled in a number of other modern European languages.
The perfect can be denoted by the glossing abbreviation or . It should not be confused with the perfective aspect (), which refers to the viewing of an action as a single (but not necessarily prior) event. To avoid confusion with the perfective, the perfect is occasionally called the retrospective ().
The perfect is not necessarily incompatible with other grammatical aspects. In English, for example, it can be combined with the progressive (continuous) aspect, wherein an event is viewed as temporary and ongoing. A form such as the present perfect progressive I have been working combines the meanings expressed by the two aspects – viewing my working as an ongoing process, but one which is now completed (or, as in I have been working for two hours, restricting attention to the completed portion of that process).
If perfect is viewed as an aspect, then the verb forms traditionally called just "perfect" (as in Greek or – in appropriate contexts – in Latin) in fact combine the perfect aspect with present tense (the event occurred prior to the time of speech). The pluperfect and future perfect forms combine perfect aspect with past and future tense respectively. This analysis is reflected more explicitly in the terminology commonly used in modern English grammars, which refer to present perfect, past perfect and future perfect (as well as some other constructions such as conditional perfect).
However, not all uses of "perfect" verb forms necessarily express this "perfect aspect" – sometimes they are simply used as expressions of past tense, that is, as . This applies to some uses of the Latin perfect, and also (for example) to the modern German Perfekt.
In other languages other uses of the perfect are found:
The have-perfect developed from a construction where the verb meaning have denoted possession, and the past participle was an adjective modifying the object, as in I have the work done.“Have, V., Sense VI.i.30.” Oxford English Dictionary, Oxford UP, September 2024, https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/3760462532. This came to be reanalyzed, with the object becoming the object of the main verb, and the participle becoming a dependent of the have verb, as in I have done the work. The construction could then be generalized to be used also with intransitive verbs. A vestige of the original interpretation is preserved in some languages in the form of inflection on the participle to agree with the gender and number of the object.
The be-perfect developed similarly, from a construction where the verb meaning be was an ordinary copula and the participle expressed a resultative state of the subject.Joan Bybee, Revere Perkins, William Pagliuca, The Evolution of Grammar: Tense, Aspect, and Modality in the Languages of the World, University of Chicago Press, 1994. It is consequently used mostly with verbs that denote a change in the state or location of the subject, and in some languages the participle inflects to agree with the gender and number of the subject.
Languages that use these constructions can generally inflect the auxiliary to produce different verb forms for the perfect aspect: the pluperfect or past perfect is produced with the auxiliary in the past tense, the future perfect with the auxiliary in the future tense, and so on. These include non-finite verb forms such as perfect infinitives. (More possible forms and examples are given under below.)
The basic (present) perfect form, with the auxiliary in the present tense, may specifically carry the meaning of perfect aspect, as in English; however in some languages it is used more generally as a past tense (or preterite), as in French and German.
The use of auxiliaries and meaning of the constructions in various languages are described below.
Celtic languages (except Cornish language and Breton language) have a somewhat different type of perfect construction, where a word meaning "after" is used together with a verbal noun. This is described under Welsh grammar and Irish conjugation. By analogy with this construction, sentences of the form I'm after eating (meaning "I have eaten") are used in Irish English. Middle Cornish and Middle Breton used a perfective particle re with the preterite to express a present perfect sense, although this has largely fallen out of use in the modern languages, being replaced with periphrastic formations using the verbs "to be" or "to have" with a past participle.
Other verb forms used in Ancient Greek to refer to past circumstances were the aorist, which was used simply to report past events (for example in narrative), and the imperfect.
For details of the formation and use of the Greek perfect, see Ancient Greek verbs (see also ). For the (compound) perfect found in modern Greek, see Modern Greek verbs.
Latin also has pluperfect and future perfect forms. For details of how all of these forms are made, see Latin conjugation.
The perfect can also be combined with another aspectThe perfect, the progressive, and the perfect progressive are three of the aspect-like forms used in English. The perfective, imperfective, completive, inceptive, punctual, iterative, and habitual are sometimes considered aspects in English as well. that is marked in English – the progressive (or continuous) aspect. In perfect progressive (or perfect continuous) constructions, the perfect auxiliary (a form of have) is followed by the past participle been (from be, the auxiliary of the progressive aspect), which in turn is followed by the present participle of the main verb. As before, the perfect auxiliary can appear in various tenses, moods and non-finite forms:
The perfect aspect (or perfect progressive) can also be combined with marking for the passive voice. Perfect passive forms can be constructed by replacing the participle of the main verb with the corresponding participle of be followed by the past participle of the main verb: it has been eaten; it will have been eaten; it has been being eaten. Perfect progressive passives, as in the last example, therefore involve two consecutive participles of the auxiliary verb be; these constructions are rarely used.
The implications of the present perfect (that something occurred prior to the present moment) are similar to those of the simple past. The simple past is generally used when the occurrence has a specific past time frame – either explicitly stated ( I wrote a book in 1995 ; the water boiled a minute ago), or implied by the context (for example, in the narration of a sequence of events). The present perfect, on the other hand, is used when the assumed time frame lasts up until the present moment: I have written two novels (in my lifetime; I am still alive); You have done no work this morning (it is still the morning). It is often used to draw attention to the consequences rather than the action: I've built a tree-house (the time of building is not important; the focus is on the result, the present existence of the tree-house). Present Perfect. Guide to Grammar and Writing.
Perfect progressive forms are used mainly to refer to an action continuing up to (or nearly up to) the time of reference, again with emphasis on its consequences ( we were tired because we had been running), or its duration ( we have been working for ten hours/since 7 o'clock). They may express interrupted activities ( I had been writing a novel when she came to talk to me). Past Perfect Progressive Tense.
The perfect infinitive (without to in most cases) can be used after modal verbs with various meanings, chiefly to express modality with regard to past events: you should have done that; she might have seen it. With would (and sometimes should and could), it forms a contrary-to-fact past conditional (conditional perfect), Conditional Sentences. as in she would/could have done it if she had tried. Conditional Verb Forms. Guide to Grammar and Writing. (These verb forms might not be considered to be truly in the perfect aspect.) For more information on such constructions, see English modal verbs (particularly the sections on the individual modals).
For more details on the usage of the various perfect constructions in English, see Uses of English verb forms.
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