perfect

In English, the perfect tense is any verb that uses the helping verbs “have”, “has”, or “had”. It has the nuance of completed action.  The present perfect is built using “have” or “has” as in:

I have run
you have run
she has run

The future perfect is built using “will have” as in:

I will have run
you will have run
she will have run

The past perfect is built using “had” as in:

I had run
you had run
she had run

The perfect tense is generally used to refer to action that is completed in the past but the effects of which continue on into the present.

Betty taught for ten years. (simple past)
Betty has taught for ten years. (present perfect)

The aspect of the perfect tense denotes action as having been already completed, in the writer’s mind, with the emphasis on the resulting state of affairs cf. BBG chapter 25 or this video. See the endings here.  Typically, this is captured in English by using the helping verb “has”, “have” or “had”.

πεπιστευκα – I have believed

λελυκα – I have loosed

Perfects are easy to find because they reduplicate.

Tense	Tense Formative	Augment
Present	no	no
Imperfect	no	yes
First Aorist	yes	yes
Second Aorist	no	yes
Future	yes	no
Perfect	yes	no

QTL forms (KHW calls them “affix forms;” many grammars call them “perfects”) are distinguished by the fact that the different forms are made by adding suffixes, as opposed to YQTL forms which use prefixes.  See the different forms in the charts in the back of KHW page 432 or this video.

Affix forms should usually be translated into a simple past tense verb or as an English perfect. Sometimes, these verbs will have a vav reversive and should be translated as futures.  See the syntax of the perfect form explained here.  Here is a chart of these in the Qal:

 

 

   

Qal QTL with vav-reversive: