Bridging the Tense Gap: A Contrastive Analysis of Translating Present and Past Perfect Simple from Arabic into English

Abstract

Translating tense and aspect between Arabic and English poses persistent challenges for English as a Foreign Language learners because of fundamental structural and semantic differences between the two languages. This study investigates the difficulties Arabic-speaking university students face when translating the present perfect simple and past perfect simple from Arabic into English. Using a descriptive-analytical research design supported by quantitative analysis, the study examines translations produced by fourteen first- and second-year English majors at the University of Science and Technology, Taiz. Data were collected through a written translation test consisting of ten Arabic sentences designed to elicit functional uses of English perfect tenses. The results show that incorrect tense usage exceeded correct usage, indicating limited mastery of English perfect tenses. A recurrent error pattern involved replacing perfect forms with simpler constructions, particularly the simple past and present simple, leading to distorted temporal relations and loss of aspectual meaning. These difficulties are attributed to the absence of direct tense equivalents in Arabic, partial understanding of the semantic functions of English perfect tenses, and insufficient contrastive and context-based instruction. The study contributes empirical evidence to contrastive linguistics and translation studies and highlights the need for improved pedagogical approaches in EFL contexts