Present Perfect Tense
One of the compound tenses
What is the present perfect
tense?
• The present perfect tense is used to
describe what has or has not happened.
How is the present perfect
formed?
• It is formed by using the present tense
of haber with the past participle of the
main verb.
What is the present tense
conjugation of haber?
• Singular
–
–
–
–
–
Yo he
Tú has
Ud. ha
Él ha
Ella ha
• Plural
– Nosotros hemos
– Uds. han
– Ellos han
– Ellas han
What do the forms of haber
mean?
• The forms of haber are the equivalent
of has or have in English. They are
what we call “helping verbs” in English.
What is a past participle?
• A past participle is a form of a verb that
cannot be used alone as a verb.
• A past participle in English is the –ed
form of most verbs. For regular verbs it
looks just like the past tense form.
– Por ejemplo:
• Play
played
More on English past participles
• Irregular past participles in English vary
according to the verb. These do not
look like the past tense of the verb.
– Por ejemplo:
• Write
wrote
written
How is the past participle of the
verb formed?
• To form the past participle of most
verbs in Spanish, take off the infinitive
ending (-ar, -er, -ir) and add back –ado
for –ar verbs and –ido for –er and –ir
verbs.
– Por ejemplo:
• Hablar
• Comer
• Vivir
hablado
comido
vivido
Irregular past participles
• Several verbs in Spanish have irregular past
participles. These must be memorized.
–
–
–
–
–
–
Abrir
Cubrir
Decir
Descubrir
Escribir
Freír
abierto
cubierto
dicho
descubierto
escrito
frito
More irregular past participles
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Hacer
Morir
Poner
Resolver
Romper
Satisfacer
Ver
Volver
hecho
muerto
puesto
resuelto
roto
satisfecho
visto
vuelto
More irregular past participles
• When a prefix is added to an irregular verb,
the past participle shows the same
irregularity.
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
–
Describir
Deshacer
Devolver
Imponer
Posponer
Predecir
Prever
Revolver
descrito
deshecho
devuelto
impuesto
pospuesto
predicho
previsto
revuelto
Accented past participles
• -er and –ir verbs that have a stem
ending in a vowel have an accent mark
over the I in the past participle.
– Caer
– Creer
– Leer
– Oír
– Traer
caído
creído
leído
oído
traído
Ir and ser
• Even the past participles of ir and ser
are regular.
– Ir
– Ser
ido
sido
A few good things to know about
present perfect tense
• There are no stem changes in present
perfect tense – in other words, don’t
make stem changes in the past
participles
• The form of haber and the past
participle are a unit that cannot be
separated. Do not put negative words
or anything between them.
Handy clues to perfect tenses
• Sometimes sentences will have a clue
word or phrase that indicates a possible
perfect tense situation.
– Ya means already.
– Todavía no means not yet.
Ejemplos
• Yo ya he visto esa película. I have seen that
movie already.
• Mercedes ha bailado el tango antes.
Mercedes has danced the tango before.
• Todavía no hemos comido en ese
restaurante. We have not eaten in that
restaurant yet.
• ¿No has estudiado para el examen? You
have not studied for the test?
Practica
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Yo/afeitarse esta mañana
Tú/correr tres millas
Elena y yo/dormirse en clase
Nosotros/seguir las instrucciones
Uds./poner el libro en la mesa
Los estudiantes/ir al parque
Marta y yo/morir de hambre