Decoding French equivalents of the English present perfect: Evidence from parallel corpora of parliamentary documents

Abstract

Scholars have yet to establish a consensus regarding French equivalents of the English present perfect (PP). This study investigates the French equivalents of the PP through the lens of parallel corpora. Although the passé composé is commonly considered the French equivalent, no singular tense in French entirely mirrors the PP. This paper challenges this assumption by suggesting other French forms as viable correspondences, including the présent de l'indicatif, the passé récent, the futur antérieur, and the imparfait. Leveraging the benefits of parallel corpora for crosslinguistic analysis, these forms were scrutinized in relation to their function and application across different uses of the PP. The findings provide empirical evidence that enriches the understanding of the crosslinguistic complexity between the PP and its French equivalents, offering valuable insights for foreign language learning, teaching, and translation. The study also stresses the importance of interpretations of tense equivalences in the pursuit of successful crosslinguistic communication.