ADVERB
  diu:\, _for a long time, long_

190. Meanings of the Perfect.  The perfect tense has two distinct meanings.  The first of these is equivalent to the English present perfect, or perfect with have, and denotes that the action of the verb is complete at the time of speaking; as, I have finished my work.  As this denotes completed action at a definite time, it is called the perfect definite\.

The perfect is also used to denote an action that happened sometime in the past; as, I finished my work. As no definite time is specified, this is called the perfect indefinite\.  It corresponds to the ordinary use of the English past tense.

a. Note carefully the difference between the following tenses: 

I {was finishing } my work (imperfect, Sec. 134)
{used to finish}
I finished my work         (perfect indefinite)
I have finished my work    (perfect definite)

When telling a story the Latin uses the perfect indefinite to mark the different forward steps of the narrative, and the imperfect to describe situations and circumstances that attend these steps.  If the following sentences were Latin, what tenses would be used?

“Last week I went to Boston.  I was trying to find an old friend of
mine, but he was out of the city.  Yesterday I returned home.”

191. Inflection of the Perfect.  We learned in Sec. 186 that any perfect is inflected by adding the endings of the perfect to the perfect stem.  The inflection in the four regular conjugations is then as follows: 

CONJ.  I    ama:vi:    I have loved, I loved or did love
CONJ.  II   monui:     I have advised, I advised or did advise
CONJ.  III  re:xi:     I have ruled, I ruled or did rule
ce:pi:     I have taken, I took or did take
CONJ.  IV   audi:vi:   I have heard, I heard or did hear

PERFECT STEMS
ama:v- monu- re:x- ce:p- audi:v-

   SINGULAR

1. ama:’vi:  mo’nui:  re:’xi:  ce:’pi:  audi:’vi: 
2. ama:vis’ti:  monuis’ti:  re:xis’ti:  ce:pis’ti:  audi:vis’ti: 
3. ama:’vit mo’nuit re:’xit ce:’pit audi:’vit

     PLURAL
  1. ama:’vimus monu’imus re:’ximus ce:’pimus audi:’vimus
  2. ama:vis’tis monuis’tis re:xis’tis ce:pis’tis audi:vis’tis
  3. ama:ve:’runt monue:’runt re:xe:’runt ce:pe:’runt audi:ve:’runt
       or or or or or
     ama:ve:’re monue:’re re:xe:’re ce:pe:’re audi:ve:’re

  1.  The first person of the perfect is always given as the third of the
  principal parts.  From this we get the perfect stem. This shows the
  absolute necessity of learning the principal parts thoroughly.