"She built her house" is a completed act

[Michaelll]

I suggest that you get used to the idea that different verbs are different. Indeed, that should come as no surprise.

The point is that those 'different' verbs in my native language all have different forms so that we can understand the meaning.

Imperfect forms are neutral, we can say this just to show the activity/action. In English they can be followed by 'for + an amount of time'.

• I insisted on going to the movies.
• I asked her to go to the movies.
  -- We don't know whether 'they' went to the movies.
• We defended our land.
  -- Neutral, it's just means that someone else initiated the attack.

Perfect forms show successfully fulfilled actions (= results). In English they can be followed by 'in + an amount of time'.

• I insistedest on going to the movies.
• I askedest her to go to the movies.
  -- We know for sure just from the phrase that 'they' did go to the movies.
• We defendedest our land.
  -- Successfully. We won. The attackers were/have been defeated.

And of course cases related to objects: books/pictures/movies/ships/cakes etc. etc.

So I have to learn the meaning of all English verbs literally from scratch.

Your idea that English should have verbs that end in "est" is not, I think, going to catch on.

Who said that my idea was that English should have verbs that end in 'est'? As I said above I just resorted to the non-existent 'est' forms to show you the issue with understanding English verbs.

He asked her to go to the movies. - does it mean that they went?
He insisted that they go to the movies. - does it mean that they went?
They defended their land. - does it mean that they were successful in their defending and eventually prevailed?
etc. etc. etc...

As I can see it's not only my problem. Some native speakers have different views on the verb 'to learn'.

 

[Tarheel]

He asked her to go to the movies.

Does it mean that they went to the movies? No, it doesn't. We only know that he asked her. We don't know what her response was. We know one thing. We don't know anything else.. However, context will usually tell us more.

The others are similar in that they provide limited information. We know so much and no more.

 

[emsr2d2]

1. He asked her to go to the movies. - Does it mean that they went? We don't know.
2. He insisted that they go to the movies. - Does it mean that they went? We don't know.
3. They defended their land. - Does it mean that they were successful in their defending and eventually prevailed? Probably, yes.

The only things we are sure of in 1 and 2 are that the asking and the insisting have already taken place. We have no idea when the trip to the movies is/was even supposed to happen.