Lesson 29: Introducing the Perfect Tenses

lesson on the Spanish present perfect tense

29.1

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The Perfect Tenses

The perfect tenses refer to actions that have been completed before a given point in time.

  1. The present perfect allows us to discuss an action completed before the present.
    ‍
    For example:"I have walked to the aquarium today."
  2. The past perfect allows us to discuss an action completed before some point in the past.
    ‍
    For example: "I had walked to the aquarium that day."
  3. The future perfect allows us to discuss an action completed before some point in the future.
    ‍
    For example: "I will have walked to the aquarium many times by the end of the month."

There are more perfect tenses, but we’ll cover those in the next lesson. In this lesson we’ll just be covering the present perfect. Once you have the present perfect down, the rest of the perfect tenses will be easy to learn.

29.2

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Formation of the Perfect Tenses

Good news, VerbMasters! The perfect tenses in Spanish look and function a lot like they do in English. They are made up of two verbs:

  1. A conjugated form of haber (to have [as a helping verb])
  2. and the past participle of the action verb.

Haber tells us who does the action and when it happens, and the past participle tells us what the action is.

If you’ve completed the practice from all previous lessons, then you’ve already learned to conjugate haber in the present tense in order to form the present perfect tense! The only new formation you need to learn is the past participle. So let’s dig in!

29.3

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Past Participles in English

Here are some examples of past participles in English:

talk → talked
eat → eaten
live → lived

As you can see, English has past participles that are formed regularly by adding ‑ed (talked, lived) and irregularly (eaten). Spanish also has regular and irregular past participles. Let’s start with the regulars.

29.4

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Regular Past Participles in Spanish

Finding regular past participle forms is a simple two step process:

  1. We find the root of the verb by dropping the ending.
  2. Then, we add ‑ADO for ‑AR verbs and ‑IDO for ‑ER and ‑IR verbs.
table of Spanish past participles for regular verbstable showing how to find Spanish past participle of a verb
hablar → habl__ → hablado
comer → com__ → comido
vivir → viv__ → vivido

29.5

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Irregular Past Participles in Spanish

In Spanish, the number of irregular past participles is fairly small (much smaller than the number of English irregulars). These are the most common ones:

  1. escribir (to write): escrito
  2. hacer (to do): hecho
  3. decir (to say): dicho
  4. poner (to put, to set): puesto
  5. suponer (to suppose): supuesto
  6. ver (to see): visto
  7. volver (to return): vuelto
  8. creer (to believe): creído
  9. morir (to die): muerto
  10. traer (to bring): traído

29.6

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Regular Past Participles in Spanish

OK! Now that we know what the past participle is, it’s time to put it to use with a perfect tense. Let’s start with the present perfect.

Definition of the Spanish present perfect: the present perfect indicates that completed past action has ongoing relevance or impact in the present.
  1. To review, haber is conjugated in the present like so:
haber present tense Spanish conjugation table
  1. Find the past participle of the verb being performed; add the ending -ADO to -AR verbs and the ending -IDO to -ER and -IR verbs:
hablar → habl__ → hablado
comer → com__ → comido
vivir → viv__ → vivido
table showing how to find Spanish past participle of a verb
  1. Combine the conjugated form of haber with the past participle.
hablar present perfect Spanish conjugation tablecomer present perfect Spanish conjugation tablevivir present perfect Spanish conjugation table

29.7

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Using the Present Perfect

Below are some examples of how you can use the present perfect in the real world:

hablar present perfect example sentence
Hace mucho tiempo que no he hablado con el delfín.
It’s been a long time since I have talked with the dolphin [~It’s been a long time that I have not spoken to the dolphin].
Hace mucho tiempo que no he hablado con el delfín.
‍It’s been a long time since I have talked with the dolphin [~It’s been a long time that I have not spoken to the dolphin].
comer present perfect example sentence
¿Te has comido todo el helado?
‍Have you eaten all the gelato?
¿Te has comido todo el helado?
‍Have you eaten all the gelato?
vivirr present perfect example sentence
Hemos vivido en esta cueva durante demasiado tiempo.
We have lived in this cave for too long.
Hemos vivido en esta cueva durante demasiado tiempo.
We have lived in this cave for too long.

Practice Time!

The only way to master these verbs is through targeted practice. Fortunately for you, VerbMaster’s intelligent tutoring system makes conjugation practice a breeze!

In this session, you’ll practice conjugating haber in the present tense paired with the past participles of hablar, comer and vivir to create the present perfect tense. So what are you waiting for? Get to studying, you’re on your way to becoming a VerbMaster!

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