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: Playplayed

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: Writewrotewritten

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: Hablarhablado Comercomido Vivir vivido

Irregular past participles Several verbs in Spanish have irregular past participles. These must be memorized. –Abrirabierto –Cubrircubierto –Decirdicho –Descubrirdescubierto –Escribirescrito –Freírfrito

More irregular past participles Hacerhecho Morirmuerto Ponerpuesto Resolverresuelto Romperroto Satisfacersatisfecho Vervisto Volvervuelto

More irregular past participles When a prefix is added to an irregular verb, the past participle shows the same irregularity. –Describirdescrito –Deshacerdeshecho –Devolverdevuelto –Imponerimpuesto –Posponerpospuesto –Predecirpredicho –Preverprevisto –Revolverrevuelto

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. –Caercaído –Creercreído –Leerleído –Oíroído –Traertraído

Ir and ser Even the past participles of ir and ser are regular. –Irido –Sersido

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