7.04 - El pronóstico del tiempo - Estructuras
Español 30
El presente perfecto
The perfect tenses are compound tenses, meaning that they are made up of two parts. There is both a 'helping verb' (haber) and a past participle. In this lesson we will learn about the present perfect.
The present perfect tense portrays an action or state as completed and not in progress. It is usually used to talk about actions that occurred in an unspecified time before now (the present). Go to this link to see how it is used in English.
Here are a few examples:
- Ayer el sol brilló. -VS- El sol ha brillado mucho recientemente.
- ¿Has escuchado la canción Brindo por ti?
- ¿Imagino que viste la niebla ayer? Sí, pero he visto mucho peor en la costa.
Can you give the English equivalent to those examples?
- Yesterday the sun shone. -VS- The sun has shone a lot lately.
What do you notice about the forms of the 'helping verb'? (in grammar terms, this is actually called an auxiliary verb)
- Have you listened to the song Brindo Por Ti?
Do we have past participles in English? What would the auxiliary verb be in English?
- I imagine you saw the fog? Yes, but I have seen much worse on the coast.
The auxiliary verb haber means 'to have', but not in the same sense as the verb
tener - it is only helping to form this tense.
Let's take a look at how to form the present perfect tense. Again, there are two parts.
- The helping verb haber in the correct form of the present tense.
- The masculine singular form of the past participle.
Let's review the present tense forms of haber.
| Haber | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Yo | he | Nosotros | hemos |
| Tú | has | Vosotros | habéis |
| El / Ella / Ud. | ha | Ellos(as) / Uds. | han |
¿Comprendiste?
|
Selecciona + para ver y oír la pronunciación de los participios irregulares.
There are a few irregular participles. Take a look at them below.
| Verb | Past Participle | |
|---|---|---|
| abrir | abierto | |
|
|
cubrir | cubierto |
|
|
decir | dicho |
|
|
describir | descrito |
|
|
descubrir | descubierto |
|
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devolver | devuelto |
|
|
escribir | escrito |
|
|
hacer | hecho |
|
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morir | muerto |
|
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poner | puesto |
|
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romper | roto |
|
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ver | visto |
|
|
volver | vuelto |
¿Comprendiste?Spend some time practicing these irregular participles. You will know them in no time! ¡Repasemos! Lanza esta actividad para chequear tu comprensión. |
¡Ojo! With -er and -ir verbs, if after removing the –ar/-er/ or –ir verb ending, the stem ends in a vowel, a written accent will be required.
- creer → creído
- oír → oído
This rule does not apply, and no written accent is required for verbs ending in –uir.
Watch the following videos for further information about the Present Perfect in Spanish.