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The perfect tenses explained. What they are and a brief look at how they are formed in both Spanish and English. |
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A closer look at how ‘haber’ is formed with each personal pronoun in each of the perfect tenses. A complete formation guide of ‘haber’ + past participle for all regular verbs. |
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How the past participle is formed for irregular verbs. |
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When do we commonly use the perfect tenses? |
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When the perfect tenses are used differently in Spanish and English. Looking at the perfect tenses with negatives and other important formation rules. |
| What you can learn from this lesson | |
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Understanding how the verb ‘haber’ is used to express or talk about certain situations that occur both in the present, past and future. |
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Being able to formulate the past participle for all regular and irregular verbs. (The number of irregular verbs is small!) |
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Knowing how to correctly conjugate the verb ‘haber’ in the perfect tenses with each of the personal pronouns. |
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Knowing how to use the perfect tenses in negative sentences. |
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Knowing when not to use the perfect tenses in Spanish in situations where they might normally be used in English and vise versa. |
Affiliates |
START SPANISH |
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SYNERGY SPANISH |
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PART 1
The first part of this lesson looks at what the perfect tenses are. It also gives an overview of how they are formed, looking specifically at regular verbs.
The perfect tenses are really a combination of tenses. They can be formed in the present, past and future. The perfect tenses can also be formed with the subjunctive and conditional tenses. These types of verb formations are looked at in more detail in another lesson.
Forming perfect tenses
haber + past participle |
(to have + past participle) |
NOT
tener |
(to have) |
Perfect tenses are formed by using the auxiliary verb ‘to have’ (haber) with what is known as the past participle of another verb. The majority of verbs in the past participle are regular and are formed in only one of two different ways. We will look at this in just a moment. Depending on whether we are talking in the present, past or future will depend on which form of haber we should use with the past participle.
In English to have (haber) is used as follows:
| tense | personal pronoun | to have | to eat |
| present | I, you, he, she, it, we, you (all), they | have | eaten |
| past | I, you, he, she, it, we, you (all), they | had | eaten |
| future | I, you, he, she, it, we, you (all), they | will have | eaten |
In Spanish, haber (to have) is used a little differently. Not only does the form of ‘haber’ change in the present, past and future but it also changes when we use it with each personal pronoun, (yo, tú, él, ella, usted, nosotros, nosotras, vosotros, vosotras, ellos, ellas, ustedes). We will look at each of these different formations in part 2 of the lesson, but first lets look at how the past participle of regular verbs is formed.
In English the past participle of regular verbs is formed by adding ‘ed’ to the verb. Look at this example; to talk (hablar).
| tense | personal pronoun | to have | to talk | past participle |
| present | I, you, he, she, it, we, you (all), they | have | talk | ed |
| past | I, you, he, she, it, we, you (all), they | had | talk | ed |
| future | I, you, he, she, it, we, you (all), they | will have | talk | ed |
In Spanish the past participle of regular verbs are formed by replacing the end of the verb with either ‘ido’ or ‘ado’.
AR verbs end in ado
ER and IR verbs end in ido
| verb | remove the ending | add the past participle |
| hablar (to speak) | habl | ado |
| caminar (to walk) | camin | ado |
| comer (to eat) | com | ido |
| beber (to drink) | beb | ido |
| vivir (vivir) | viv | ido |
| salir (to leave) | sal | ido |
In both Spanish and English irregular verbs are formed a little differently. We will look at some of these later. Luckily however, in Spanish, the majority of verbs that are formed with the past participle are regular.
PART 2
Now lets look at how the verb ‘haber’ (to have), is formed with each personal pronoun and the past participle of verbs in the present past and future.
Present perfect tense - formed using the regular AR verb hablar (to speak/talk).
| personal pronoun | haber | verb + past participle | complete |
| (to have) | |||
| yo | he | habl + ado | hablado |
| tú | has | habl + ado | hablado |
| él/ella/usted | ha | habl + ado | hablado |
| nosotros/nosotras | hemos | habl + ado | hablado |
| vosotros/vosotras | habéis | habl + ado | hablado |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | han | habl + ado | hablado |
Past perfect tense - formed using the regular ER verb comer
(to eat).
| personal pronoun | haber | verb + past participle | complete |
| (to have) | |||
| yo | había | com + ido | comido |
| tú | habías | com + ido | comido |
| él/ella/usted | había | com + ido | comido |
| nosotros/nosotras | habíamos | com + ido | comido |
| vosotros/vosotras | habíais | com + ido | comido |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | habían | com + ido | comido |
Future perfect tense - formed using the regular IR verb salir (to leave). This verb is usually irregular!
| personal pronoun | haber | verb + past participle | complete |
| (to have) | |||
| yo | habré | sal + ido | salido |
| tú | habrás | sal + ido | salido |
| él/ella/usted | habrá | sal + ido | salido |
| nosotros/nosotras | habrámos | sal + ido | salido |
| vosotros/vosotras | habréis | sal + ido | salido |
| ellos/ellas/ustedes | habrán | sal + ido | salido |
Things to note:
1) The past participle is formed in the same way with each personal pronoun in each group.
2) The past participle is formed in the same way for both ER and IR regular verbs.
3) The form of ‘haber’ changes with each personal pronoun in all three tenses.
4) In the past perfect and future perfect tenses the form of ‘haber’ is the same with the personal pronouns ‘yo’ and ‘él/ella/usted’.
5) Accent marks (tildes), are only used with the vosotros/as personal pronouns in the present perfect tense.
6) Accent marks (tildes), are used with all personal pronouns in the past perfect tense.
7) Accent marks (tildes), are used with all personal pronouns in the future perfect tense except with the vosotros/as forms.
PART 3
Part 3 of the lesson looks a how irregular verbs are formed with the perfect tenses. As already mentioned most verbs in the perfect tenses are regular. Those that are irregular need to be memorized.
The formation of irregular verbs with ‘haber’ is the same. The way ‘haber’ changes with each personal pronoun is the same as illustrated in part 2 of the lesson. The only thing that is different is the past participle. Irregular verbs do not take the endings ‘ido’ or ‘ado’.
Below are some of the most common irregular verbs in the perfect tenses.
| ver | to see | visto | seen |
| poner | to put | puesto | put |
| hacer | to do / make | hecho | done / made |
| volver | to return | vuelto | returned |
| decir | to say | dicho | said |
| abrir | to open | abierto | opened |
| romper | to break | roto | broken |
| oír | to hear | oído | heard |
| freír | to fry | frito | fried |
| cubrir | to cover | cubierto | covered |
| morir | to die | muerto | died |
| escribir | to write | escrito | written |
The following examples show how some of these irregular verbs might be used in speech. Notice how the formation of ‘haber’ is the same as for regular verbs and that it is only the past participle that changes.
Present perfect
(Yo) he visto esa pelicula antes. (I have seen that movie before.)
Ellos ya han
abierto sus regalos. (They have already opened their presents.)
Nosotros hemos
puesto demasiado encima. (We’ve put too much on top.)
Past perfect
Él había hecho su
mejor. (He had done his
best.)
Yo lo había oído una vez antes. (I had heard it once before.)
Future perfect
Ella habrá muerto antes de que el doctor llegue. (She will have died before the doctor arrives.)
Él habrá escrito el libro en su propio estilo. (He will have written it in his own style.)
PART 4
The fourth part of the lesson looks at when we commonly use perfect tenses.
Present perfect
The present perfect tense is used in a very similar way in both Spanish and English. We use it to talk about things that have or haven’t happened up until the point at which we are speaking. We also use it to talk about what has or hasn’t happened during specified periods in the past, such as this week, or this year.
(Yo) he terminado mis deberes. (I have finished my chores.)
¿(Tú) has comido tu almuerzo? (Have you eaten your lunch?)
Ellos nunca han
estado en Italia. (They have never been to
Ella ha ganado cien euros esta semana. (She has earnt 100
euros this week.)
Past perfect
Again, the past perfect tense is used in a similar way in both Spanish and English. We use it to talk about things that happened in the past but more usually things that happened further in the past or previous to something else that happened in the past. The past simple (preterite), tense is more commonly used to talk about things that happened more recently in the past, although not always! Take a look at the lesson on the past simple (preterite), tense for more details.
Ellos habían terminado antes de que yo había empezado. (They had finished before I had started.)
Ya yo les había dicho que yo no podía. (I had already told them that I couldn’t.)
Nosotros nunca habíamos estado antes de ayer. (We had never been before yesterday.)
Future perfect
The future perfect tense is less commonly spoken in both Spanish and English, although in both languages it is used in a similar way. It is used to talk about the future. Commonly it is used to talk about things that haven’t happened yet but will happen in the future, before or after something else will have happened.
(Yo) habré terminado en tiempo para ir más tarde. (I will have finished in time to go later.)
Ella habrá cumplido dos exámenes cuando llegue el viernes. (She will have completed two exams by Friday.)
PART 5
The last part of this lesson looks at when the perfect tenses are used in Spanish but not in English and vise versa and using the perfect tenses with negatives. It also looks at some important formation rules when constructing sentences.
As already discussed in part 4 of this lesson the perfect tenses are usually used in the same way in both Spanish and English. Lets look at when this may not be the case and where other tenses may be used in either Spanish or English instead.
When talking about the very recent past.
¿(Tú) lo has visto? Did you see that?
(Present perfect tense.) (Present simple tense.)
¿(Tú) has pagado? Did you pay?
(Present perfect tense.) (Present simple tense.)
When using desde, desde
hace and hace..que in Spanish.
Él está triste desde que su esposa murió.
(Present simple tense.)
He’s been sad since his wife died.
(Present perfect tense.)
Él estaba triste desde que su esposa murió
(Imperfect tense.)
He had been sad since his wife died.
(Past perfect tense.)
Ella estudia desde hace seis meses.
(Present simple tense.)
She has been studying for six months.
(Present perfect continuous tense.)
Ella estudió
desde hace seis meses.
(Past simple (preterite), tense.)
She had been studying for six months.
(Past perfect continuous
tense.)
Hace mucho tiempo
que trabajamos juntos.
(Present simple tense.)
We have been working together for a long time.
(Present perfect continuous tense.)
Hace mucho tiempo
que trabajábamos juntos.
(Imperfect tense.)
We had been working together for a long time.
(Past perfect continuous tense.)
Using negatives.
In Spanish the word ‘no’ is used in the construction of negative sentences in the perfect tenses. Note that ‘no’ is always placed before the formation of ‘haber’ and the past participle.
Él no
había dicho nada. (He hadn’t said
anything.)
(Yo) no he lavado los platos hoy día. (I haven’t washed the dishes today.)
In Spanish the perfect tenses are used in negative sentences with desde, desde hace and hace..que.
Él no ha
estudiado desde hace seis meses.
(Present perfect tense.)
He hasn’t studied for six months.
(Present perfect tense.)
Él no había
estudiado desde hace seis meses
(Past perfect tense.)
He hadn’t studied for six months.
(Past perfect tense.)
Important formation rules.
1) The past participle always follows immediately after the formation of ‘haber’.
2)
Both ‘haber’
and the past participle must be used together. A sentence cannot contain just ‘haber’ or just the past participle.
That concludes this lesson on the perfect tenses. If you have
not done so already watch the actual video for this lesson and then try one of
the associated quizzes to test your understanding.
