Present Perfect - Auxiliaries

Auxiliaries

In modern English, the auxiliary verb for forming the present perfect is always to have. A typical present perfect clause thus consists of the subject, the auxiliary have/has, and the past participle (third form) of the main verb. Examples:

• I have eaten some food.
• You have gone to school.
• He has already arrived in Russia.
• He has had child after child... (The Mask of Anarchy, Percy Shelley)
• Lovely tales that we have heard or read... (Endymion (poem), John Keats)

Early Modern English used both to have and to be as perfect auxiliaries. Examples of the second can be found in older texts:

• Madam, the Lady Valeria is come to visit you. (The Tragedy of Coriolanus, Shakespeare)
• Vext the dim sea: I am become a name... (Ulysses, Tennyson)
• Pillars are fallen at thy feet... (Marius amid the Ruins of Carthage, Lydia Maria Child)
• I am come in sorrow. (Lord Jim, Conrad)

In many other European languages, the equivalent of to have (e.g. German haben, French avoir) is used to form the present perfect (or their equivalent of the present perfect) for most or all verbs. However, the equivalent of to be (e.g. German sein, French être) serves as the auxiliary for other verbs in some languages, such as German, Dutch, French, and Italian (but not Spanish or Portuguese). Generally, the verbs that take to be as auxiliary are intransitive verbs denoting motion or change of state (e.g. to arrive, to go, to fall).

For more details, see Perfect constructions with auxiliaries.