present perfect , preterit ..

grafas · 02-24-2006, 09:12 AM

Bonjour ,
Je n'ai pas bien compris la diference entre le preterit et le present perfect ..et j'ai cet exercice à faire mais je ne sais pas si mes réponses sont corrects , pouvez vous m'aider ?

Puts the verbs between brackets in the preterite or the present perfect .

Philip (stare) stared speechlessly at number 9, Hellebore Close . The Queen (try) tryed to get the key into the keyhole .She asked "Charles , darling , (you+ever+use ) you has ever used that sort of key ?".William and Harry (laugh) laughed when Charles , unable to unlock the front door , (boot) booted it furiously .The door finally (open) has opened "I (never+see) have never seen such a mess !" said Charles , "This house (not+be) wasn't lived in for years !"
"Good Lord ," said the Queen , "I (never+do) have never done any housework in my whole life ..this is dreadful !".She (start) has started to cry .

voila...merci d'avance ..=)

grafas · 02-24-2006, 02:07 PM

please ..Help !!!
merci =)

NAR · 02-24-2006, 04:48 PM

Bonsoir!

Je ne sais pas trop si c'est ce dont a quoi vous vous attendiez... mais voici les quelques corrections que j'ai apporté.

Philip (stare) stared speechlessly at number 9, Hellebore Close .

The Queen (try) tryed to get the key into the keyhole .
The Queen tried to get the key into the keyhole.

She asked "Charles , darling , (you+ever+use ) you has ever used that sort of key ?".
She asked "Charles, darling, have you ever used that sort of key?"

William and Harry (laugh) laughed when Charles , unable to unlock the front door , (boot) booted it furiously .

The door finally (open) has opened
The door finally opened.

"I (never+see) have never seen such a mess !" said Charles ,
"This house (not+be) wasn't lived in for years !"
"This house has not been lived in for years!"

"Good Lord ," said the Queen , "I (never+do) have never done any housework in my whole life ..this is dreadful !"
She (start) has started to cry .
She started to cry.

grafas · 02-24-2006, 06:24 PM

merci pr ta réponse Nar ..j'ai presque tt faux ...peux tu m'expliquer quand est ce qu'il faut mettre le preterit et le present perfect ???...
merci d'avance ..

marielameche · 02-24-2006, 10:59 PM

Une explication simpliste serait que le prétérit, tu l'utilises pour décrire une action "unique", de courte durée
ex = Il regarda la porte, elle essaya de mettre la clef, la porte s'ouvrit..

alors que le present perfect comporte une idée de durée, explicite ou implicite
ex= est ce que tu as déja utilisé ce genre de clef (dans ta vie)
Cela fait des années que cette maison est inhabitée
Je n'ai jamais fait le ménage de ma vie

donc par exemple
I have never done any housework in my whole life = exemple ci dessus, present perfect
I didn't do any housework yesterday= Je n'ai pas fait le ménage hier

Je ne sais pas si c'est très clair, j'espère que ça t'aide un peu

chinoise · 02-25-2006, 05:41 AM

Bonjour, grafas,

I'll explain in English, hope you'll understand. The difference between the simple past and the present perfect is in the tense and time. Simple past is used when there is a clear indication of a past time, a specific point of time, for eg.

Yesterday I saw Mary. Last night I saw a movie.

Present perfect is used when the emphasis is on the present time, on experience, often used with prepositions like "for", "ever","before", and time phrase like "an hour", "a day", "two weeks" etc which indicate a period of time, for eg.

I have lived in France for 10 years.
Have you ever tried skiing before?

In the passage you gave, though there are no clear indications of past time, the sentences without the " " quotation marks use past tense, because they are telling a story, and a story always happened in the past. For the dialogues with " ", they happen in real time, just like I'm speaking to you. They can be in any tense, past, present or future. But in the story they are about the things that have just happened but used in the present tense, without words indicating a past time like yesterday or two hours ago, so they are in present perfect.

She asked "Charles, darling, have you ever used that sort of key?"
"I (never+do) have never done any housework in my whole life ..this is dreadful !"

Here the meaning suggests the using of present perfect, about experience.

"This house has not been lived in for years!"
The phrase "for years" is a clear indication of perfect tense, for a period of time, and since the speaker is speaking it in real time, naturally in present perfect tense.

"has been" is the present perfect tense of "be", in passive voice. The present tense is "is lived".

In short:

Simple past: Yesterday, last night, two years ago

Present perfect: today, now, have, ever, never, for a period of time, for two years

The past tense is used for things that happened in the past, with no indication of continuing. The present perfect tense is something that happened in a past time but may continue in the future, for e.g.

I studied English 3 years ago. (My study has ended)
I have studied English for 3 years. (But I will continue my study for a few more years)

Hope you'll understand.

grafas · 02-25-2006, 07:21 AM

Merci beaucoup chinoise and marielameche ...

Je pense que j'ai compris , avec un peu d'entrainement ca devrait le faire ...
merci encore..
Bonne journée ..

02-24-2006, 09:12 AM	#1 (permalink)
grafas Junior Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 13 grafas is an unknown character at this point	present perfect , preterit .. Bonjour , Je n'ai pas bien compris la diference entre le preterit et le present perfect ..et j'ai cet exercice à faire mais je ne sais pas si mes réponses sont corrects , pouvez vous m'aider ? Puts the verbs between brackets in the preterite or the present perfect . Philip (stare) stared speechlessly at number 9, Hellebore Close . The Queen (try) tryed to get the key into the keyhole .She asked "Charles , darling , (you+ever+use ) you has ever used that sort of key ?".William and Harry (laugh) laughed when Charles , unable to unlock the front door , (boot) booted it furiously .The door finally (open) has opened "I (never+see) have never seen such a mess !" said Charles , "This house (not+be) wasn't lived in for years !" "Good Lord ," said the Queen , "I (never+do) have never done any housework in my whole life ..this is dreadful !".She (start) has started to cry . voila...merci d'avance ..=)
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02-24-2006, 02:07 PM	#2 (permalink)
grafas Junior Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 13 grafas is an unknown character at this point	please ..Help !!! merci =)
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02-24-2006, 04:48 PM	#3 (permalink)
NAR Simply the Best Join Date: Oct 2005 Posts: 474 NAR has a spectacular aura about	Bonsoir! Je ne sais pas trop si c'est ce dont a quoi vous vous attendiez... mais voici les quelques corrections que j'ai apporté. Philip (stare) stared speechlessly at number 9, Hellebore Close . The Queen (try) tryed to get the key into the keyhole . The Queen tried to get the key into the keyhole. She asked "Charles , darling , (you+ever+use ) you has ever used that sort of key ?". She asked "Charles, darling, have you ever used that sort of key?" William and Harry (laugh) laughed when Charles , unable to unlock the front door , (boot) booted it furiously . The door finally (open) has opened The door finally opened. "I (never+see) have never seen such a mess !" said Charles , "This house (not+be) wasn't lived in for years !" "This house has not been lived in for years!" "Good Lord ," said the Queen , "I (never+do) have never done any housework in my whole life ..this is dreadful !" She (start) has started to cry . She started to cry.
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02-24-2006, 06:24 PM	#4 (permalink)
grafas Junior Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 13 grafas is an unknown character at this point	merci pr ta réponse Nar ..j'ai presque tt faux ...peux tu m'expliquer quand est ce qu'il faut mettre le preterit et le present perfect ???... merci d'avance ..
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02-24-2006, 10:59 PM	#5 (permalink)
marielameche Super Moderator Join Date: Jan 2006 Posts: 1,072 marielameche is just really nice marielameche is just really nice	Une explication simpliste serait que le prétérit, tu l'utilises pour décrire une action "unique", de courte durée ex = Il regarda la porte, elle essaya de mettre la clef, la porte s'ouvrit.. alors que le present perfect comporte une idée de durée, explicite ou implicite ex= est ce que tu as déja utilisé ce genre de clef (dans ta vie) Cela fait des années que cette maison est inhabitée Je n'ai jamais fait le ménage de ma vie donc par exemple I have never done any housework in my whole life = exemple ci dessus, present perfect I didn't do any housework yesterday= Je n'ai pas fait le ménage hier Je ne sais pas si c'est très clair, j'espère que ça t'aide un peu __________________ Vêtements créateur / Designer clothes : www.poupees-perdues.com
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02-25-2006, 05:41 AM	#6 (permalink)
chinoise International Forum Fan Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 511 Blog Entries: 1 chinoise has a spectacular aura about	Bonjour, grafas, I'll explain in English, hope you'll understand. The difference between the simple past and the present perfect is in the tense and time. Simple past is used when there is a clear indication of a past time, a specific point of time, for eg. Yesterday I saw Mary. Last night I saw a movie. Present perfect is used when the emphasis is on the present time, on experience, often used with prepositions like "for", "ever","before", and time phrase like "an hour", "a day", "two weeks" etc which indicate a period of time, for eg. I have lived in France for 10 years. Have you ever tried skiing before? In the passage you gave, though there are no clear indications of past time, the sentences without the " " quotation marks use past tense, because they are telling a story, and a story always happened in the past. For the dialogues with " ", they happen in real time, just like I'm speaking to you. They can be in any tense, past, present or future. But in the story they are about the things that have just happened but used in the present tense, without words indicating a past time like yesterday or two hours ago, so they are in present perfect. She asked "Charles, darling, have you ever used that sort of key?" "I (never+do) have never done any housework in my whole life ..this is dreadful !" Here the meaning suggests the using of present perfect, about experience. "This house has not been lived in for years!" The phrase "for years" is a clear indication of perfect tense, for a period of time, and since the speaker is speaking it in real time, naturally in present perfect tense. "has been" is the present perfect tense of "be", in passive voice. The present tense is "is lived". In short: Simple past: Yesterday, last night, two years ago Present perfect: today, now, have, ever, never, for a period of time, for two years The past tense is used for things that happened in the past, with no indication of continuing. The present perfect tense is something that happened in a past time but may continue in the future, for e.g. I studied English 3 years ago. (My study has ended) I have studied English for 3 years. (But I will continue my study for a few more years) Hope you'll understand. Last edited by chinoise; 02-25-2006 at 05:43 AM.
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02-25-2006, 07:21 AM	#7 (permalink)
grafas Junior Join Date: Feb 2006 Posts: 13 grafas is an unknown character at this point	Merci beaucoup chinoise and marielameche ... Je pense que j'ai compris , avec un peu d'entrainement ca devrait le faire ... merci encore.. Bonne journée ..
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