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Question 1: Should we say, "Have the Olympic games began?" or "Have the Olympic games begun?"

Question 2: Are the sentences below constructed correctly? "My exams just began." "My exams have just begun."

They are different ways of saying the same thing, aren't they?

M. Vohra
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  • Do you know how to form the present perfect? Do you whether began or begun is the past participle for began? Have you looked in a dictionary? – Alan Carmack Jul 29 '16 at 05:20

2 Answers2

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Began is the past simple of begin. Begun is the past participle of begin, which is used to form perfect tenses. Hence the correct sentence is:

Have the Olympic games begun?

As for the question #2, you use the present perfect, especially with just, ever, and already, for recent actions in BrE. On the other hand, you can use either the past simple or the present perfect in AmE. So both the following sentences are correct in AmE:

My exams have just begun. (Correct in AmE and BrE)

My exams just began. (Correct in AmE).

P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica
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Khan
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  • Actually, no. Both contructions are equally acceptable and correct in NAmE and BrE. There is not the slightest difference. They are understood identically. In certain contexts, there could be a very slight difference in emphasis, standpoint in time, and meaning between My exams just began and My exams have just begun which would prompt a native speaker to use one or the other; but these shades of meaning are beyond the scope of a question posed by a learner who is unsure of something as basic as how to form the present perfect of a simple verb such as to begin. – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica Jul 30 '16 at 05:46
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Question 1: The example Have the Olympic games began? is incorrect. The perfect tense of to begin is begun, for all numbers. Have the Olympic games begun? is correct.

Question 2: Both are grammatically correct. Began is the simple past tense of to begin for all numbers, and begun is the perfect tense of the same verb, as in Question 1. These two usages do express exactly the same thought from the same perspective in time, but beware of generalizing this case. There are expressions in which the past and the perfect do not express the same thought. A good example is:

What did you do at school today?

This would be perceived as merely a request for a synopsis of the day's events at school. Contrast it with:

What have you done at school today?

This would be perceived as attaching importance, and probably some notoreity, to the listener's actions at school.

The perfect tense deserves your close attention as a student of English. A frequent Answerer at ELL has posted a very useful resource here: What is the perfect, and how should I use it?

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P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica
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    The sentence "Have the Olympic games begun?" is in the present perfect tense, right? – M. Vohra Jul 29 '16 at 06:48
  • @M.Iflal You have a textbook or other reference book or website which tells you how to conjugate the English verb to begin. Have you consulted this reference? What does this it tell you about have begun? – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica Jul 29 '16 at 07:34
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    When downvoting, It is customary and polite, among civilized people, to add a comment which explains the reason for the downvote, and on what grounds the commenter disagrees with the answer. – P. E. Dant Reinstate Monica Jul 30 '16 at 20:38