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agosto 14, 2024
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Why do so many intermediate English learners put the present perfect at the top of their “to master” lists? The answer is simple. There is no direct connection between a specific verb tense in Portuguese and the present perfect in English.
Here are three tips to help you apply the Present Perfect, if your mother tongue is Portuguese.
TIP 1 There is always an open time frame. So, let’s think about a Portuguese language concept, let’s call it “the já mode”.
| Portuguese | Tense | English | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|---|
| Você já almoçou? | past | Have you eaten yet? | Today |
| Você já esteve na Etiópia? | past | Have you ever been to Ethiopia? | Your life up until now |
| Quanto vocês já fizeram do projeto até agora? | past | How much of the project have you done so far? | Until this point in time |
TIP 2 You can measure time periods that started in the past and come up until the present. The way we do this in Portuguese is to use “Há quanto tempo…?”
| Portuguese | Tense | English | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|---|
| Há quanto tempo você trabalha aqui? | present | How long have you worked here? | What I want to know |
| Atuo neste setor há onze anos. | present | I’ve been in this field for eleven years. | The last eleven years |
| Me interesso pela física desde os dez anos. | present | I’ve been interested in Physics since I was ten. | From the time I was ten until now |
TIP 3 The present moment includes things so recent in their occurrence that they are still very present in our minds. Note two ways we can express this thought in Portuguese.
| Portuguese | Tense | English | Time Frame |
|---|---|---|---|
| A bolsa acaba de quebrar um recorde. | present | The stock market has just broken a record. | Sometime yesterday or today |
| O que é que você fez com minha apresentação!? | present + past | What have you done to my presentation? | Just now, the evidence is still before my eyes |
| No que é que eu fui me meter? | present + past | What have I gotten myself into? | Recent events up to where I am now |
I hope this bit of comparative grammar helps you along in your mastery of the Present Perfect!
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