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When changing a sentence to present perfect tense, is it compulsory the verb changes tense too. For instance 'David begins his training today' changes to 'David has begun his training already'. Does the sentence 'David runs every day' changes to 'David has run as many as five miles today' or 'David has ran as many as five miles today'

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closed as general reference by RegDwighт♦ Mar 12 '12 at 9:42

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It is compulsory that you use a past participle. The present perfect tense is formed with the verb have in the present tense and a past participle. Usually the past participle shares its form with the past tense and is constructed with an -ed ending (e.g., she has worked...). In some cases, though, the past participle will be the same form as the bare present tense (e.g., she has hit...), and occasionally it will have its own unique form (e.g., she has begun...).

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I think i found the reason why the verb 'run' looks as if it never changed tense in the second sentence. The perfect tense of 'run' is 'run' so it remainis the same. This means when changing a sentence to present perfect, it changes the tense of the verb too. – lovesack Mar 11 '12 at 10:59
Basically, yes. Technically, the past participle (e.g., worked, begun, run, etc.) is not a tense. You could call it a verb form or shape. Some grammars talk about the perfect tense, but most use "perfect aspect". In either case, run by itself is not the perfect. You need both have and run to make the perfect. – Brett Reynolds Mar 11 '12 at 11:28
Then you mean 'has run' or 'have run' which ever the case may be is the correct form of the present perfect of 'run'? – lovesack Mar 11 '12 at 12:02
The verb have will agree with the subject, so the present perfect of he runs is he has run, while the present perfect of I run is I have run. – Brett Reynolds Mar 11 '12 at 12:22

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