ESL Speakers Using the Past Perfect

The Past Perfect grammar tense is one of the past tenses that my ESL students regularly avoid using. It is one of the more difficult tenses for students to master because it includes a helping verb, plus a past participle. And if you add an adverb, keeping the order straight is always a challenge.

The Past Perfect tense is used to talk about the past when there are two past tense events, or one past tense event and a particular time in the past. For example, "I had given up before she arrived."

I think the other reason that ESL speakers avoid using the Past Perfect tense is because you really can express all that you need to express by using the Simple Past plus words like "before" and "after."

Learning the Past Perfect just allows an ESL speaker to more fully learn and use the language.

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“What’s a Syllable?”

When I teach my adult ESL students the rules for adding a syllable to past tense verbs that end with a /t/ or /d/, I often use the word “syllable,” of course. I have found that about 50% of the time “syllable” is a new word, and sometimes a new concept, for my adult students.

Now I no longer make the mistake of assuming that students know the words (sometimes called the “metalanguage”) that I use to talk about the language. After all, ESL and EFL teachers should really use a minimum of metalanguage when teaching English. It’s just so much easier to take these shortcuts that sometimes I have to remind myself that my students are, after all, coming to me to learn to speak or communicate in English, not to learn to speak about English.

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Examples of Past Perfect Tense

I’d like to provide some examples of Past Tense verb usages.

Most of my advanced ESL students avoid using the Past Perfect, although they have studied it and could use it if pressed to do so. ESL and EFL learners don’t have the opportunity to practice the tense and since they don’t have to use it, they will often avoid it. They will often use the Simple Past instead.

Here are some examples of the Past Perfect tense:

He had been at the party for an hour before I got there.

She had enjoyed the movie before some noisy people sat down.

They had studied the Past Perfect tenses before moving onto the Past Perfect Progressive.

We had already eaten by the time she arrived.

You'll notice that all of these sentences could be rewritten using only the Simple Past. This is what my ESL students tend to do, so I try to reinforce the usage of the Past Perfect whenever possible.

More info on Past Perfect lesson plans.

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Present Perfect or Simple Past?

ESL students feel more comfortable using the Simple Past. The Present Perfect is a bit more confusing, and with good reason. One of the three functions of the Present Perfect is very similar, and often interchangeable, with the function of the Simple Past.

The Simple Past is used to express something that started and ended at some time in the past. For example, “I ate breakfast.” One of the functions of the Present Perfect is to discuss something that has happened in the past with an unspecified time. For example, “I have eaten breakfast.” I can use both of these sentences to express what I did this morning.

The assumption with “I ate breakfast” is that the morning is over. I could say, “I ate breakfast this morning.” It’s now afternoon. If I say, “I’ve eaten breakfast,” it means that it’s still morning, or that breakfast is still being served.

One of the problems for ESL learners is that native English-speakers often use the Present Perfect and the Simple Past incorrectly.

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“Voiced” and “Voiceless” Sounds (Past Tense)

When I teach lessons to ESL students on how to pronounce regular Simple Past tense verbs (those ending with “-ed”), I first have to teach the concept of “voiceless” sounds and “voiced” sounds.

The “-ed” endings of regular past tense verbs are pronounced in three different ways. They end with either a /t/ sound, a /d/ sound, or an /ed/ sound. Verbs ending with an /ed/ sound are easier to teach. Determining whether a past tense verb ends with a /t/ or /d/ sound is more difficult for ESL students. See English Past Tense Pronunciation for more info.

Whether the ending of a Past Tense verb should be pronounced as a /t/ or a /d/ is dependant upon the final sound at the end of the base form of the verb (before you add “-ed” to the verb). For example, for the word “work,” the “k” sound (not the letter sound) determines that the ending for “worked” is pronounced “work/t/”; for the word “clean,” the "n" sound determines that “cleaned” is pronounced “clean/d/.”

“Voiced Sounds” have a /d/ ending

To distinguish a voiced sound, I have the student determine the final sound of the base form of the verb (before adding the “-ed”). For example, for the word “save,” the final sound is "vvvvvv". I then ask the student to hold three fingers to their throat and make the sound "vvvvvv". I ask them if they feel a vibration in their throat. If there is a vibration, then the ending is pronounced as a /d/.

“Voiceless Sounds” have a /t/ ending

To distinguish a voiceless sound, I have the student determine the final sound of the base form of the verb (before adding the “-ed”). For example, for the word “miss,” the final sound is "sssssss". I then ask the student to hold three fingers to their throat and make the sound "sssssss". I ask them if they feel a vibration in their throat. If there is no vibration, then the ending is pronounced as a /t/.

When using this method in a lesson to teach pronunciation of Past Tense verbs, you really have to demonstrate the way to determine if the sound vibrates or not. ESL students sometimes feel silly or are otherwise reluctant to put their fingers to their throats and make a funny sound. So I consistently model what the student should do.

The mistake students usually make during this pronunciation lesson is that they look at the last letter and say the letter, rather than make the sound that the letter makes.

Pronunciation of Past Tense Verbs

Following a lesson plan on the Simple Past tense (verb conjugation, form, and function), I usually also teach my private ESL students how to pronounce past tense verbs ending in “-ed,” although this isn’t always necessary. Some students have already learned correct pronunciation in their native countries, although there will usually be some problems. If the problems are consistent or serious, then I’ll do a pronunciation lesson right after the verb conjugation and usage lesson.

The most common mistake, and I think the most serious pronunciation problem, is always adding a second syllable for the “-ed” at the end of the past tense word. A second syllable is only required when the last sound (not the last letter) is a “t” or “d,” for example, “wanted,” “decided,” “needed.”

For regular verbs, the “-ed” ending has three different pronunciations: “t,” “d,” and “ed.”

Examples of /t/ endings for past tense verbs

“laugh” becomes “laughed” and is pronounced “laugh/t/” (one syllable)
“walk” becomes “walked” and is pronounced “walk/t/” (one syllable)
“kiss” becomes “kissed” and is pronounced “kiss/t/” (one syllable)
“finished” becomes “finished” and is pronounced “finish/t/” (two syllables)

Examples of /d/ endings for past tense verbs

“clean” becomes “cleaned” and is pronounced “clean/d/” (one syllable)
“dream” becomes “dreamed” and is pronounced “dream/d/” (one syllable)
“save” becomes “saved” and is pronounced “save/d/” (one syllable)
“enjoy” becomes “enjoyed” and is pronounced “enjoy/d/” (two syllables)
“marry” becomes “married” and is pronounced “marry/d/” (two syllables)

Examples of /ed/ endings for past tense verbs (this is the only ending that is pronounced with an additional syllable)

“want” becomes “wanted” and is pronounced “want/ed/” (two syllables)
“need” becomes “needed” and is pronounced “need/ed/” (two syllables)
“decide” becomes “decided” and is pronounced “decide/ed/” (three syllables)
“dedicate” becomes “dedicated” and is pronounced “dedicate/ed/” (four syllables)

Deciding when to use the “/ed/” pronunciation is pretty simple. The English as a Second Language student just needs to remember that this ending is used only for verbs ending with a “t” or “d” sound.

A lesson plan teaching the ESL student how to differentiate between verbs with a “/t/” sound ending and a “/d/” sound ending is a bit more difficult. Many students will think that it is just a matter of memorizing which letters at the end of the word take a “/t/” and which take a “/d/.” This will work for many verbs, but not all.

The better rule is to teach ESL students how to determine if the ending sound of the base verb is “voiced” or “voiceless.” The “ed” ending of voiceless sounds takes on a “/t/.” Voiced sounds take on a “/d/.” For more information on voicing, see Voiced and Voiceless Sounds.

Teaching the Simple Past

After the present tenses (Simple Present and Present Progressive), the Simple Past tense (also called the Past Simple) is usually the next verb tense ESL students are taught. The Simple Past tense has “regular” verbs and “irregular” verbs.

Regular Simple Past tense verbs are formed by adding “-ed” to the end of the base form of the verb (eg., walked, dressed, called, etc.). For verbs that already end with an “e,” just add a “d” (e.g., cared, raced, decided, invited, etc.).

As with teaching all verb tenses, three things are essential to teach students learning English as a Second Language: (1) verb conjugation, (2) verb form, and (3) verb function. (See Fundamentals of Teaching Verb Tenses.)

Simple Past Verb Conjugation (using miscellaneous common verbs, for example)

Verb conjugation of the affirmative Simple Past is pretty easy. There is only one form of the verb no matter what the subject is.

1. I talked. I walked. I danced. I cared.
2. You talked. You walked. You danced. You cared.
3. She/He/It talked. She/He/It walked. She/He/It danced. She/He/It cared.
4. They talked. They walked. They danced. They cared.
5. We talked. We walked. We danced. We cared.

Simple Past Verb Form (five forms the ESL student must learn)

1. Affirmative Usage (e.g., She talked.)
2. Negative Usage (e.g., She didn’t talk.)
3. Yes/No Questions (e.g., Did she talk?)
4. Short Answers (e.g., Yes, she did. No, she didn’t.)
5. WH- Questions (e.g., When did she talk?)

The tricky thing for ESL students conjugating the Simple Past is remembering to use the correct “helping” or “auxiliary” verb “to do.”

Simple Past Function (when to use the Simple Past aka Past Simple)

The Simple Past verb tense has one primary function: to express an activity or situation that started in the past and ended in the past at a particular time. For example, “I finished my homework last night,” “I traveled to Spain in 1985,” “I got up at seven this morning.”

ESL Student Challenges

Besides remembering to use the correct helping verb (“to do”), students studying English as a Second Language also have to memorize irregular Past Tense verbs (irregulars don’t follow the general rule of adding “-ed”) and they also have to learn about changing the spelling of verbs that end with “y” (e.g., "study" becomes "studied") and some consonants (e.g., "drop" becomes "dropped").

For a more thorough explanation and Simple Past exercises (as well as every other verb tense and lots of grammar tips), see Azar's Understanding and Using English Grammar.

Functions of the Present Perfect

Yesterday, I wrote about teaching verb tenses and verb conjugation. The usual order of teaching tenses is Simple Present, Present Progressive, and Simple Past. ESL students are generally OK through these basic tenses. Then comes the Present Perfect… (can you hear the Jaws shark music in the background?).

Here are the three functions of the Present Perfect.

1. Unspecified time
2. Repetition
3. Started in the past and continues until the present, may or may not continue into the future (there just isn’t a short way to describe this function)

Function 1: Unspecified time

The Present Perfect can be used to describe something in the past when we don’t know when it happened or when it happened is not important. For example, “I’ve traveled to Brazil.”

Compare the Present Perfect usage to the Simple Past. “I traveled to Brazil in 2004.” The Simple Past is used when a time is specified. The specified time could be "this morning," "yesterday," "at 6pm," "when I was a child," etc.

The "unspecified time" function of the Present Perfect tense is often confused with the Simple Past tense.

Function 2: Repetition

The Present Perfect is used to describe something that has happened many (or a couple of) times in the past. For example, “I’ve traveled to Brazil many times,” "I've eaten at that restaurant twice," "John Grisham has written a few books."

Function 3: Started in the past, continues until now, and may or may not continue into the future

For example, “I’ve watched All My Children since 1970.” This tense can often be replaced with the Present Perfect Progressive when emphasizing duration. “I’ve been watching soap operas since 1970.”

Note: This is a general overview of the three functions of the Present Perfect. Use a good grammar textbook, such as Azar’s, Understanding and Using English Grammar,to fully prepare your Present Perfect tense lesson plan.

You can also visit my ESL Verb Tenses page for more info about all English verb tenses.

Present Perfect Exercise Glitch

Today, I met with a beginning level ESL student. Her homework for the weekend included a cloze exercise (a "filling in the blanks" exercise) using the Present Perfect. Before we started correcting the exercise, she asked me if all the blanks were supposed to be filled in using the Present Perfect. I said, "yes." When we started going over the answers, I realized that the exercises actually required using either the Present Perfect or the the Simple Past. Oops.

I apologized profusely to the student for giving her the wrong instructions. However, we were able to make the corrections together and this turned out to be another learning opportunity. I was also able to see her thought processes in determining whether the correct verb tense was the Present Perfect or the Simple Past.

I got the ESL grammar exercise from one of the of the sites that I use regularly for exercises. (I had copied and pasted it to Microsoft Word on my laptop (giving all the appropriate credit to the website).) It said that the exercise was for the Present Perfect. Other exercises specified other tenses, so I made the assumption that the whole exercise labeled "Present Perfect" was only using the Present Perfect.

This is not the first time I discovered an error in an ESL lesson I got from the Internet. Moral of the story: review the exercise before you assign it to your student!