The pretérito perfecto (Present Perfect) is a compound tense. Like all compound tenses, is formed with the auxilary verb haber plus the past participle of the verb we want to use. The pretérito perfecto is formed with the present tense of haber: yo he, tú has, él/ella/usted ha, nosotros/as hemos, ellos/as/ustedes han; followed by the past participle. Regular past participles are formed by adding –ado to the stem of –ar verbs and –ido to the –er and –ir verbs.
hablar: he hablado, has hablado, ha hablado, hemos hablado, han hablado.
–er verbs:
comer: he comido, has comido, ha comido, hemos comido, han comido.
–ir verbs:
vivir: he vivido, has vivido, ha vivido, hemos vivido, han vivido.
Note: Notice that the past participle remains unchanged in all the persons.
¿Ha venido el cartero esta mañana?
Has the postman come this morning?
¿Ha llamado tu madre?
Has your mother called?
Por fin hoy me han subido el sueldo.
Finally today I’ve gotten a raise.
Esta semana he trabajado cincuenta horas.
This week I have worked fifty hours.
Hoy he comido una ensalada.
Today I have eaten a salad.
Este año he cambiado de trabajo cuatro veces.
This year I have changed jobs four times.
--to talk about actions without mentioning when these happened in the past.
El doctor Fernández ha salvado muchas vidas.
Dr. Oriol has saved many lives.
Pedro ha vivido en muchos países de Europa.
Pedro has lived in many countries in Europe.
Isabel y su hermana han vendido la casa de sus padres.
Isabel and her sister have sold their parents’ house.
Mi socio y yo hemos invertido todos nuestros ahorros en un pequeño negocio.
My partner and I have invested all of our savings in a small business.
El mal tiempo ha estropeado nuestros planes para el fin de semana.
The bad weather has ruined our plans for the weekend.
Conjugation of the pretérito perfecto of regular verbs:
–ar verbs:hablar: he hablado, has hablado, ha hablado, hemos hablado, han hablado.
–er verbs:
comer: he comido, has comido, ha comido, hemos comido, han comido.
–ir verbs:
vivir: he vivido, has vivido, ha vivido, hemos vivido, han vivido.
Note: Notice that the past participle remains unchanged in all the persons.
Irregular Past Participles:
abrir: abierto, cubrir: cubierto, descubrir: descubierto, decir: dicho , escribir: escrito, hacer: hecho, poner: puesto, morir: muerto, resolver: resuelto, romper: roto, ver: visto, volver: vuelto.The pretérito perfecto is used:
--to talk about actions that were recently completed at some point just before “now”, and which may still have some importance or consequences in the present. They may be accompanied by time expressions that help express what a short time ago they have happened, namely, esta mañana, esta tarde, esta noche, esta semana, este año, hoy.¿Ha venido el cartero esta mañana?
Has the postman come this morning?
¿Ha llamado tu madre?
Has your mother called?
Por fin hoy me han subido el sueldo.
Finally today I’ve gotten a raise.
Esta semana he trabajado cincuenta horas.
This week I have worked fifty hours.
Hoy he comido una ensalada.
Today I have eaten a salad.
Este año he cambiado de trabajo cuatro veces.
This year I have changed jobs four times.
--to talk about actions without mentioning when these happened in the past.
El doctor Fernández ha salvado muchas vidas.
Dr. Oriol has saved many lives.
Pedro ha vivido en muchos países de Europa.
Pedro has lived in many countries in Europe.
Isabel y su hermana han vendido la casa de sus padres.
Isabel and her sister have sold their parents’ house.
Mi socio y yo hemos invertido todos nuestros ahorros en un pequeño negocio.
My partner and I have invested all of our savings in a small business.
El mal tiempo ha estropeado nuestros planes para el fin de semana.
The bad weather has ruined our plans for the weekend.