Thread: Preterite and present perfect

Originally Posted by ShakeyX

- Сейчас я смотрю футбол, а вечером буду писать курсовую работу. Кстати, Восток - Запад я уже посмотрел.

Last point:посмотрел, as stated just now, I would have 100% expected смотрел as I believe this is the "experiential perfect". He once watched it, it is part of his life, however it is not recent and having just happened.

Both смотрел and посмотрел are OK in this sentence.
Not sure if it is "experiential perfect" or something else... Maybe in my previous message, I confused myself a bit.
So... We talk about some state that established in the past and continues to be actual up to the present (and possibly will be actual forever).
A state can be:

1. A result of a logically completed action, i.e. result of a perfective verb.
As in our example: the man "посмотрел" the movie, so the state "the movie is watched" is actual for him now and forever.

2. Just a fact that some process took place in the past.
"Я был в Америке." - the process "был в Америке" was in the past, but this sentence itself means not only "process was in the past", but also the fact that the state "был в Америке" is actual for "я".

Originally Posted by ShakeyX

- Что ты сейчас делаешь?
- Читаю интересную немецкую статью по истории.
- А что ты будешь делать, когда прочитаешь эту статью?
- Когда я её прочитаю, буду писать письмо моей немецкой подруге.
- А что ты будешь делать, когда напишешь письмо?
- Когда напишу, буду смотреть телевизор.

Is it just me or does it seem weird... What will you be doing when you've read the article? fine, but then "when i have read (will have read) I will be writing a letter... denoting a sort of strange sense that the person doesn't think they will complete it, or they do not have that intention? Then straight after they refer to writing in the perfect indicating it was an action to be completed and put out the way, like a list. I dont get this hoping between imperfective and perfective.

That is a usual way of talking about "a thing that is going at some time or after another thing". Compare:

Что ты будешь делать сегодня вечером? -> Сегодня вечером я буду писать письмо.
Что ты будешь делать после ужина? -> После ужина я буду писать письмо.
Что ты будешь делать, когда прочитаешь эту статью? -> Когда я прочитаю статью, я буду писать письмо.

"Сегодня вечером", "после ужина" and "когда я прочитаю статью" all are adverbial phrases denoting when the process is going.
The speaker just says what will be happening at the specified time, but she does not mean that the process will be leaved incompleted.

Originally Posted by ShakeyX

I dont get this hoping between imperfective and perfective.

Perhaps it will become clearer if we reword that dialog in pseudo-English:
- What will you be doing (process) when you will finish reading (instant action) the article?
- When I will finish reading (instant action) it, I will be writing (process) a letter.
- What will you be doing (process) when you will finish writing (instant action) the letter?
- When I will finish writing (instant action) it, I will be watching (process) TV.

(A side note: in fact, когда means "after" when used with a perfective clause.)