Topic:
Learn to form the present perfect tense with verbs whose past participle is regular.
Forming the Present Perfect
This tense is formed in Spanish the same way it is in English.
You use a conjugated form of the verb haber as an auxiliary verb, and follow it with the past participle of the desired verb.
In English, the past participle is simply the -ed form of the verb, although there are lots of irregular past participles in English!
As an English example, the 1st person singular present perfect form of to walk is I have walked.
Forming the Past Participle
First we need to know how to form the past participle of a verb in Spanish.
It's quite easy. For -ar verbs, add -ado to the stem. For -er and -ir verbs, add -ido to the stem. (We'll see the irregular forms in the next lesson.)
Here are some examples, along with their meanings:
| Infinitive | Ending | Past Participle | Meaning |
| andar | -ado | andado
| walked |
| llamar | -ado | llamado
| called |
| comer | -ido | comido
| eaten |
| aprender | -ido | aprendido
| learned |
| vivir | -ido | vivido
| lived |
| decidir | -ido | decidido
| decided |
The Auxiliary Verb haber
Now that we can form the past participle, we need to focus on the helping verb part of this tense, the verb haber.
Yes, it is irregular in the present tense.
But at least you only have to learn these forms once, and they appear in every present perfect conjugation.
Remember that the "h" is silent, so these are a bit odd looking and sounding.
Present Tense Conjugation of haber
Putting It Together
You have both parts of the puzzle, now just put them together.
To say I have walked, the Spanish is He andado
.
Some Examples
We have lived in Rome for many years.
Hemos vivido en Roma por muchos años.
They have already eaten.
Ellos ya han comido.
He has read the article.
Él ha leido el artículo.
Let's look at an entire conjugation. These forms of comer mean I have eaten, You have eaten, etc.
Present Perfect Conjugation of comer
Hearing This Tense is Harder Than Forming It
At least that was true for me. It is easy to write this tense, and to recognize it when you read it.
But for me, it was tricky to pick out of spoken Spanish for a long time.
The silent "h" makes the words he
, has
, and ha
very short and quick.
For me, that sound just tended to slide by without my even hearing it.
Really, it's not surprising. Many speakers do pronounce them so briefly that they are easy to miss altogether.
Fine Tuning Your Hearing
Eventually, my perception changed. I think my brain started zeroing in on the -ado and -ido sounds of the past participle, and then the forms of haber that preceded it somehow seemed more apparent.
If you are having the same trouble, don't give up. Understanding spoken Spanish is the hardest part of your journey, and this is one of the hurdles.
By knowing these structures well and seeing them in example sentences here, you will be primed to start catching those utterances in full-speed Spanish.
Practice the Regular Present Perfect
All of the exercises in this lesson will ask for a present perfect verb with a regularly formed past participle.
With that, you're ready to begin.
Additional Study Resources
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On to the Exercises and the Quiz
To practice the verb forms in this lesson, click Practice Exercises below.
Whenever you want, you can take the quiz for this lesson.
Practice Exercises
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