Present and Past Perfect Tenses
• To express the idea that someone has done
something, use the present perfect tense.
• In English, this looks like “ I have studied” or
“he has written.”
Use HABER
• Present Perfect: formed like this: start with
one of these forms of HABER:
Yo he
(I have [done something])
Has
you have
Ha
he/she/you (f) has
Hemos
we have
Han
they/all of you have
Then add the past participle:
Past Participles of Regular Verbs
Verb
Tomar
Comer
Sufrir
Root
tom
com
sufr
Ending
-ado
-ido
-ido
Meaning
Taken
Eaten
Suffered
Past Participles ending in ído
Caer
Creer
Leer
Oír
Reír
traer
Caído
Creído
Leído
Oído
Reído
traído
Try these!
1. We have studied.
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2. The boys have run.
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3. My sister has eaten.
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4. Her friend has lived in Spain.
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5. Have you learned?
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Verbs Irregular in the Past Participle
Verb
Participle Form
Meaning
Abrir
Abierto
Opened
Cubrir
Cubierto
Covered
Decir
Dicho
Said
Escribir
Escrito
Written
Hacer
Hecho
Done
Imprimir
Impreso
Printed
Morir
Muerto
Died
Poner
Puesto
Put
Resolver
Resuelto
Resolved, solved
Romper
Roto
Broken
Ver
Visto
Seen
Volver
Vuelto
Returned
(Compounds of the above verbs, like descrubrir, deshacer, imponer, devolver are
also irregular in the past participle)
Past perfect
To express the idea that someone had already
done something, use the past perfect tense.
As we saw with the present perfect, the past
participle is used with the various tenses of the
verb HABER (to have) to form the compound
tenses. Compound tenses simply need more than
one verb to make sense: in this case, the MAIN verb
and the AUXILIARY (helping) verb. For now, the
AUXILIARY verb will be a form of the verb HABER.
The past perfect tense is formed by taking the
imperfect form of the verb HABER and adding
the correct participle.
Yo había
(I had)
Tú
habías
(you had)
El/ Ella/ Ud había
(he/she/you f had)
Nosotros habíamos
(we had)
X
Ellos/ Ellas/ Uds
habían
(they/all of you had)
• So to use this tense, you take the correct form
of the AUXILIARY verb, then add the past
participle of your MAIN verb.
• For I had run: Había corrido.
• You have slept: Habías dormido.
1. I had lived.
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2. He had written (watch out, it’s an irregular!).
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3. They had talked.
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4. Pepe had driven.
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5. Andrea had read.
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6. No one knows how I have suffered!
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7. Josefina has made a delicious dinner.
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8. Máximo has given his mother a gift.
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9. You have robbed the bank?
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10. I am sorry, but the cats have died.
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11. Memo had opened the door of his car.
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12. The girls have watched TV.
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13. Have the students arrived?
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14. Has he covered the food?
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15. We have taken all the pencils.
_______________________________
16. Those students have not talked.
______________________________
17. My parents have prepared the meal.
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Contesta en español:
18. ¿Han hecho ustedes la tarea?
________________________
19. ¿Has aprendido el español?
_____________________
20. ¿Qué has comido hoy?
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