This is the last...

[diamondcutter]

From the posts I’ve read in this forum, I think I can draw a conclusion that in the structure ‘it/this is the first/second/third...time that...’, the that-clause uses the perfect tense.

But I read the following in Practical English Usage (Third Edition), Michael Swan.

Present (simple or progressive) and future tense are both possible with This is the last... and similar structures.

e.g.This is the last time I pay/I'm paying for you.
(Or This is the last time I'll pay for you.)

I’d like to know if I could also say that the structure ‘it/this is the last time that...’ is different from the structure ‘it/this is the first/second/third...time that...’.

 

[Tdol]

Think more in terms of the meaning than the structure. If I say this is the last time, I am ending/closing/stopping, etc. With this is the first time, I am starting something.

 

[emsr2d2]

You will hear all of the following from native BrE speakers:

This is the last time I'm paying for you.
This is the last time I pay for you.
This is the last time I'm going to pay for you.
This is the last time I'll pay for you.

 

[jutfrank]

Yes, I think it's a good idea to think of those as two different structures, with quite different uses.