Español V lesson el 20 de mayo 2013
Realidades 3
Capítulo 5
META
Present Perfect
Present perfect
The present perfect is a grammatical
combination of the present tense and the
perfect aspect, used to express a past event
that has present consequences. The term is
used particularly in the context of English
grammar,
where it refers to forms such as "I have
eaten" and "Sue has left". These forms are
present because they use the present tense of
the auxiliary verb have, and perfect because
they use that auxiliary in combination with
the past participle of the main verb. (Other
perfect constructions also exist, such as the
past perfect: "I had eaten.")
They may also have different ranges of
usage – for example, in both of the
languages just mentioned, the forms in
question serve as a general past tense, at
least for completed actions.
In English, completed actions in many
contexts are referred to using the simple past
verb form rather than the present perfect.
English also has a present perfect
progressive (or present perfect continuous)
form, which combines present tense with
both perfect aspect and progressive
(continuous) aspect:
"I have been eating". In this case the action
is not necessarily complete;
the same is true of certain uses of the basic
present perfect when the verb expresses a
state or a habitual action: "I have lived here
for five years."
In modern English, the auxiliary verb for
forming the present perfect is always to
have. A typical present perfect clause thus
consists of the subject, the auxiliary
have/has, and the past participle
(third form) of the main verb. Examples:





I have eaten some food.
You have gone to school.
He has already arrived in Catalonia.
He has had child after child... (The Mask
of Anarchy, Percy Shelley)
Lovely tales that we have heard or
read... (Endymion (poem), John Keats)
Early Modern English used both to have
and to be as perfect auxiliaries. Examples
of the second can be found in older texts:



Madam, the Lady Valeria is come to
visit you. (The Tragedy of Coriolanus,
Shakespeare)
Vext the dim sea: I am become a name...
(Ulysses, Tennyson)
Pillars are fallen at thy feet... (Marius
amid the Ruins of Carthage, Lydia Maria
Child)

I am come in sorrow. (Lord Jim,
Conrad)
In many other European languages, the
equivalent of to have (e.g. German haben,
French avoir) is used to form the present
perfect (or their equivalent of the present
perfect) for most or all verbs. However, the
equivalent of to be (e.g. German sein,
French être) serves as the auxiliary for other
verbs in some languages, such as German,
Dutch, French, and Italian (but not Spanish
or Portuguese).
Generally, the verbs that take to be as
auxiliary are intransitive verbs denoting
motion or change of state (e.g. to arrive, to
go, to fall).
For more details, see Perfect constructions
with auxiliaries.
In particular languages
In many European languages, including
standard German, French and Italian, the
present perfect verb form usually does not
convey perfect aspect, but rather perfective
aspect. In these languages, it has usurped the
role of the simple past (i.e. preterite) in
spoken language, and the simple past is now
really only used in formal written language
and literature
in standard English, Spanish, and
Portuguese, by contrast, the present perfect
and simple past are both common, and have
distinct uses.
English
The present perfect in English is used
chiefly for completed past actions or events,
when no particular past time frame is
specified or implied for them (it is
understood that it is the present result of the
events that is significant, rather than their
actual occurrence).
When a past time frame (a point of time in
the past, or period of time which ended in
the past) is specified for the event, explicitly
or implicitly, the simple past is used rather
than the present perfect.
It can also be used for ongoing or habitual
situations continuing up to the present time
(and not necessarily completed), particularly
in describing for how long or since when
something has been the case. In this case the
present perfect progressive form is often
used, if a continuing action is being
described.
For examples, see Uses of English verb
forms: Present perfect, as well as the
sections of that article relating to the simple
past, present perfect progressive, and other
perfect forms.
Spanish
The Spanish present perfect form conveys a
true perfect aspect. Standard Spanish is like
English in that haber is always the auxiliary
regardless of the reflexive voice and
regardless of the verb in question.
For example
I have eaten (Yo he comido)
They have gone (Ellos han ido)
He has played (Él ha jugado)
Spanish differs from French, German, and
English in that its have cognate, haber,
serves only as auxiliary in the modern
language; it never indicates possession,
which is handled instead by the verb tener.
In some forms of Spanish, such as the Rio
Platense Spanish spoken in Argentina, the
present perfect is rarely used: the simple
past replaces it.
Pluperfect Tense
Pluscuamperfecto - Spanish
Pluperfect
The Spanish pluperfect (aka past
perfect) is used to indicate an action in
the past that occurred before another
action in the past. The latter can be
either mentioned in the same sentence or
implied.
Ya había salido
I had already left
(cuando tú
(when you called).
llamaste).
They hadn't eaten
No habían comido (before doing their
(antes de hacer su homework).
tarea).
I went to the store
Fui al mercado por
this morning; I had
la mañana; ya
already gone to the
había ido al banco.
bank.
Conjugating the Spanish Pluperfect
The pluperfect is a compound verb
formed with the imperfect of the
auxiliary verb haber + the past
participle of the main verb.
HABLAR
había
yo
hablado
tú
habías
hablado
él
había
ella
hablado
Ud.
habíamos
nosotros
hablado
habíais
vosotros
hablado
ellos
ellas
Uds.
habían
hablado
SALIR
yo
había
salido
nosotros
tú
habías
salido
vosotros habíais salido
él
había
ella
salido
Ud.
ellos
ellas
Uds.
habíamos
salido
habían salido
Compound Tenses
Spanish Verb
Lessons
The past perfect is formed by combining the
auxiliary verb "had" with the past participle.
I had studied.
He had written a letter to María.
We had been stranded for six days.
Because the past perfect is a compound tense,
two verbs are required: the main verb and the
auxiliary verb.
I had studied.
(main verb: studied ; auxiliary verb: had)
He had written a letter to María.
(main verb: written ; auxiliary verb: had)
We had been stranded for six days.
(main verb: been ; auxiliary verb: had)
In Spanish, the past perfect tense is formed by
using the imperfect tense of the auxiliary verb
"haber" with the past participle. Haber is
conjugated as follows:
había
habías
había
habíamos
habíais
habían
You have already learned in a previous lesson
that the past participle is formed by dropping the
infinitive ending and adding either -ado or -ido.
Remember, some past participles are irregular.
The following examples all use the past
participle for the verb "vivir."
(yo) Había vivido.
I had lived.
(tú) Habías vivido.
You had lived.
(él) Había vivido.
He had lived.
(nosotros) Habíamos vivido.
We had lived.
(vosotros) Habíais vivido.
You-all had lived.
(ellos) Habían vivido.
They had lived.
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