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Hi All,
I was born and raised in San Diego and my boyfriend is from Liberty, Missouri. He constantly says "I seen..." where I would use "I have seen..." For example, I would say "I have seen her before." where he would say "I seen her before."
I am well versed on how to appropriately use the past tense and the past participle, and he uses "I saw..." correctly. He said the people from his town speak this way (including his family), and he does include the helper verb in most cases, but there are just a few verbs where he omits it. I am wondering if this is a regional variation of the past participial that I have just never heard.
I'll be honest, it hurts my ears when he does it, but I am trying to give him the benefit of the doubt! Any insight helps, thank you everyone!
You didn't fully explain his attitude. I see three possibilities: 1) He argues that he is correct. 2) He knows he's wrong but that's just the way he wants to speak. or 3) He would like to change but habits from the past make it difficult. Number 3 would be best for you because if he is trying to change he eventually will, with you your gentle help. If he fits number 1, you can easily prove that he is wrong but what will that do to your relationship? Only you know that answer. Number 2 is probably the worst for you because he doesn't want to change so he probably won't. How much does it really hurt your ears? I hear this pattern of speech frequently among some of my friends and most of them fit into category 2. But I like their friendship so I ignore their language errors.
The groundbreaking National Health and Social Life Survey, conducted in 1988 by a team led by Edward Lehrman of the University of Chicago, found that people generally form relationships with others of similar age, race, ethnicity, religion, education, and income level. Your ears hurt because you're crossing one or more of those boundaries.
That doesn't doom the relationship. Marriage between Catholic and protestant has gone from a no-no to ho-hum in the past 50 years, and iinterracial marriage isn't there yet for old fogies, but it doesn't seem to be a big deal to kids. But based on their experiences, it does suggest that you shoulde be prepared for other “road bumps” if this relationship continues.
Back in the 1950s and 1060s, a lot of people were saying we need to make divorce easier and marriage harder. Divorce is certainly easier, and marriage, well, more than half all babies born to women under 30 do not have married parents. That lack of legal formalities doesn't make an emotional breakup less painful.
So whether or not he stops assaulting your ears, be careful. His informal oral language is inappropriate for the boardroom, or for a scholarly journal, but it's a legitimate dialect.
It is a common practice to use the past participle for the simple past. Indeed, for most verbs they do coincide, so it isn't an issue. But where they do not coincide there are lots of dialects that use the participle for the simple past. I wouldn't consider it standard speech, and I would advise people to avoid it in any formal settings.
Does your boyfriend only use "seen" in this way or are there others, such as:
He begun vs. He began (He begun to talk about his job.)
He come vs. He came (He come home at midnight.)
He done vs. He did (He done a lot of work in the yard.)
He rung vs. He rang (He rung the bell three times and nobody come home.)
He sunk vs. He sank (He sunk like a rock.)
Glenn said
He rung vs. He rang (He rung the bell three times and nobody come home.)
He sunk vs. He sank (He sunk like a rock.)
Now, you have done it, Glenn. Here I was thinking how couth I was compared to my neighbor a couple of hundred miles north in that I would never use seen in his way. But, you give me these two which I have probably said, although I would also use He has sunk and He has rung. How deflated I am. 
Here is one difference between present perfect and simple past.
Present perfect is used for non-specific times: I've taken my car to the Ace Garage (at some unspecified time in the past).
The simple past is used for a specific time: I took my car to Ace Garage yesterday.
I grew up in the South and have heard people use the past participles of verbs without the auxiliary verb, and they are clearly not aware of distinctions like this. For instance, I've heard them say, I taken my car to Ace Garage yesterday. That isn't using the present perfect and merely dropping the auxiliary very. It is using the past participle in place of the simple past.
Martha Barnette
Grant Barrett
Grant Barrett
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