B. Foundations of Language · Handwriting, Spelling and Sentences

The Perfect Verb Tense: has, have, had and will have

B3.2 B2.1About 40 minutes

Learning goals

I can build the perfect tense with has, have, had or will have and a past participle.
I can explain when to use the present, past and future perfect tense.
I can use the correct past participle of common irregular verbs, like gone, seen and written.
I can fix common mistakes like I have went and should of.

Words to know

tense
The form of a verb that shows when something happens.

perfect tense
A verb form made with has, have, had or will have plus a past participle. It shows an action is finished (complete) by a certain time.

past participle
The verb form that goes after has, have or had, like played, gone, eaten.

irregular verb
A verb that doesn't just add -ed in the past, like go, went, gone.

Remember from Grade 3

You used the progressive tense for actions that keep going: I am skating. You used helping verbs like am, is, are, was and were.

In Grade 4 you'll learn the perfect tense. Here, perfect doesn't mean excellent. It means finished or complete. The perfect tense shows that an action is done by a certain time.

How to build it

Helping verb + past participle

Present perfect: has or have + participle. I have finished my chores.
Past perfect: had + participle. The movie had started when we arrived.
Future perfect: will have + participle. By June, I will have read twenty books.

The three perfect tenses on a timeline. Each one shows an action finished before a certain time: before a time in the past, before now, or before a time in the future.

Tense	When to use it	Example
Present perfect	Something happened at some time before now, or started in the past and is still true	We have seen* a moose.* I have lived* in Thunder Bay for three years.*
Past perfect	Something happened before another past event	The snow had melted* before we went outside.*
Future perfect	Something will be finished before a future time	By Friday, I will have finished* my project.*

Using the perfect tenses

has or have?

has with he, she, it and one person or thing: She has finished. The bus has left.
have with I, you, we, they and more than one: I have finished. The buses have left.
had and will have work with everyone: I had, she had, they had; I will have, she will have.

Past participles

For most verbs, the past participle is the same as the past tense: add -ed. play → played → have played.

Irregular verbs have their own forms. These are the ones that trip people up:

Verb	Past (yesterday I...)	Past participle (I have...)
go	went	gone
see	saw	seen
eat	ate	eaten
write	wrote	written
take	took	taken
do	did	done
begin	began	begun
swim	swam	swum
ride	rode	ridden
freeze	froze	frozen
fall	fell	fallen
break	broke	broken
bring	brought	brought
catch	caught	caught

Irregular verbs: present, past and past participle

Listen for -en

Many past participles end in -en or -n: eaten, written, taken, ridden, frozen, fallen, broken, seen, gone. That ending is a word part (a morpheme) that marks the participle.

Worked example

Let's choose the right participle

We have ______ to the cottage every summer. (go)

The helping verb is have, so we need the past participle, not the simple past.
The forms of go are go, went, gone. went is the simple past (no helper). gone is the participle.
We have gone to the cottage every summer.

gone. (We have went is a common mistake.)

Worked example

Let's use the past perfect to show order

When we got to the station, the train ______. (leave)

Two things happened in the past: we got to the station, and the train left.
Which happened first? The train left first.
Use had + participle for the earlier action: had left.

When we got to the station, the train had left. (We missed it!)

The past perfect (had left) marks the action that happened first, before another past event.

Not "should of"

could've, should've, would've are short for could have, should have, would have. Because they sound like could of, people sometimes write that by mistake. The right words are should have or should've: I should have worn my boots.

Just for fun

I have finished writing this joke. I had finished it before you started reading. And by tomorrow, you will have told it to three friends!

Hands-on activity

Perfect tense interview

You need: paper and a pencil. Interview someone at home.

Write 5 questions using Have you ever...? For example: Have you ever seen a moose? Have you ever ridden a horse? Have you ever eaten bannock? Have you ever swum in a lake? Have you ever written a poem?
Ask your questions. Write down each answer as a full sentence in the present perfect: Dad has seen a moose. He has never ridden a horse.
Underline the helping verb once and the past participle twice.
Now write one future perfect sentence about yourself: By the end of Grade 4, I will have ...
Read your sentences aloud. Do they sound right?

Your turn

Choose has or have: Kai ______ lost his mitt again.

Choose has or have: They ______ seen the northern lights.

Choose: I have (ate / eaten) my lunch.

What is the past participle of write?

Use the future perfect: By Friday, I ______ my project. (finish)

Use the past perfect: The snow ______ before we went outside. (melt)

Fix the mistake: We have went to the museum.

More practice: warm-up

What is the past participle of go?

What is the past participle of see?

What is the past participle of take?

What is the past participle of play?

Which helping verb makes the past perfect?

More practice: on your own

Name the tense: By noon, we will have skied down every hill.

Fix: She should of brought her skates.

Fill in: By the time Dad got home, we had ______ dinner. (eat). Explain.

Choose has or have: My cousins ______ visited Nunavut. Explain.

Fill in: The pond has ______ solid. (freeze)

Challenge

What's the difference? (a) I lived in Moncton for two years. (b) I have lived in Moncton for two years.

Write three sentences about a hockey game: one in the present perfect, one in the past perfect, and one in the future perfect.

Fix all the mistakes: Yesterday I seen a fox. It had ran into the woods before I could of taken a picture.

Check your understanding

Quiz

What does perfect mean in perfect tense?

Which sentence uses the present perfect correctly?

Which is correct?

The bus ______ before we reached the stop. Which shows the bus left first?

What is the past participle of ride?

Which sentence is correct?

For parents and teachers

Big idea: B3.2 names the perfect verb tense as a Grade 4 grammar focus. The perfect tense (has/have/had/will have + past participle) shows that an action is complete by a certain time. Knowing irregular participles (gone, seen, written) also uses morphology (B2.1).

How to help at home:

Play "Have you ever...?" at dinner, answering in full sentences: I have never eaten sushi.
Gently model correct forms when your child says I have went or I seen: "Oh, you've gone there? Tell me more!"
Practise a few irregular verbs each week rather than the whole list at once.

Common difficulties:

Using the simple past after have (have went, has ate, had saw).
Using the participle with no helper (I seen it, I done it).
should of / could of: show that it's really should've = should have.
has/have agreement with plural subjects (My friends has...).
Some of these forms may differ in everyday speech in your family or community. That's fine; in school writing, children learn the standard forms.