Perfect Tenses

Previously… We learned that progressive tense verbs use a present participle (-ing main verb) and forms of the helping verb to be (is, am, are, was, were). Jaquard is decorating the tree with his little brother. Melissa and her family were driving to Mexico.

Helping Verbs for Progressive Tense The helping verbs for present progressive tense: The helping verbs for past progressive tense:

Present Perfect Tense The present perfect tense of a verb names an action that happened at an indefinite time in the past. It also tells about an action that happened in the past and is still happening now. Richard has challenged his classmate. Mike and Drew have played the game before. Present perfect tense uses a past participle and a present tense helping verb.

Present Perfect Tense (cont.) Singular Plural I have jogged. We have jogged. You have jogged. She, he, or it has jogged. They have jogged. The helping verbs used in present perfect tense are: Have Has

Past Perfect Tense The past perfect tense of a verb names an action that took place before another action or event in the past. They had received the ball but fumbled it. Sarah had wondered about the answer before she read about it. Past perfect tense will use a past participle and a past tense helping verb.

Past Perfect (cont.) The helping verb used in past perfect is: Had Past Perfect Tense Singular Plural I had jogged. We had jogged. You had jogged. He, she, or it had jogged. They had jogged. The helping verb used in past perfect is: Had

Helping Verbs for Perfect Tense The helping verbs for present perfect tense: The helping verb for past perfect tense: