The Present Perfect in Spanish
How to ask, Have you ever(done something) in Spanish
Post 200/365
Es jueves, 12 de octubre de 2017
Buenos días,
Gracias por pasar por Spanish Blog 365.
Ayer hicimos un repaso de vocabulario de todos los verbos que hemos aprendido en los últimos 199 días. Haz clic aquí para ver la Lista Maestra
Hoy empezamos un nuevo tiempo de verbos – Today we’ll start a new verb tense
Se llama el Presente Perfecto en español.
In English it’s the Present Perfect. What’s that you ask. Great question!
In Spanish and English there are 14-16 verb tenses. That number can make us dizzy especially when we’ve only learned the Present tense.
When we first introduced the Present tense, I mentioned that linguists have studied people’s everyday conversations and have determined that the present tense is used about 60%
(60% por ciento) of the time. That’s a lot! That is why it’s important to go really strong and broad with the present tense. You’ll use it all the time.
Some verb tenses don’t get used a lot in everyday speech. I’d suggest that if a person learned 3-5 verb tenses in Spanish you’d be able manage about 95% of all conversations.
Of the top 3 verb tenses I’d recommend learning, this Present Perfect is for sure one of them!.
It’s actually fairly easy to learn and it’s super useful. I think you’ll like it. We’ll spend a couple of days on this.
When we talk verb tenses we often hear ‘simple’ or ‘compuesto’. ‘Simple‘ means take the verb and change the ending – like the present tense.
‘Compuesto‘ means there are 2 parts – like the Presente Perfecto
The Present Perfect in Spanish
1. Ejemplos
a. Have you seen that movie? – ¿Has visto esa película?
b. They have never been to the Grand Canyon. – Ellos nunca han estado en el Gran Cañón.
c. S/he has already eaten. – Ella/él ya ha comido.
d. I haven’t seen you for a long time. How have you been? – No te he visto por mucho tiempo. ¿Cómo has estado?
2. Parte 1 – el verb haber en el presente
Haber means to have, but it is NOT the same as tener. Tener is possession and haber is an auxiliar verb, meaning it’s a ‘helper‘ verb. (it can’t stand alone)
yo he
tú has
él
ella ha
Ud.
Nosotros hemos
ellos
ellas han
Uds.
That translates as: I have, you have, s/he has, we have and they have, but have/has what? It’s incomplete.
We need…
3. Parte 2 – el Participio Pasado
-ar verbs like hablar, comprar and estudiar change to -ado
hablado
comprado
estudiado
-er and -ir verbs like comer, vivir and aprender change to -ido
comido
vivido
aprendido
Note that there is NO variation to the Past Participle – no masc/fem or singular/plural.
Just like our verb haber in Parte 2, the Past Participle can’t stand alone either. It translates as: spoken, bought, studied, eaten, lived, learned. It does not show who is doing the action.
That’s why we need the 2 parts. It’s a compound verb tense.
4. Modelos
Yo he hablado con María. – I have spoken with Mary
¿Has estudiado la lección 2? – Have you studied lesson 2?
Ella/él ha comprado un 2 carros nuevos este año. – S/He has bought 2 new cars this year.
Ya hemos comido. – We have already eaten.
Ellos han vivido en Londrés, Nueva York y en Los Angeles. – They have lived in London,…
Hoy, nosotros hemos aprendido el presente perfecto. – Today we’ve learned the present perfect.
Action steps:
1. Memorize: he, has, ha, hemos, han
2. Practice changing -ar verbs to -ado and -er/-ir verbs to -ido
3. Come back tomorrow for more on this verb tense.
Leave me a note and let me know how it’s going with your Spanish. I’d love to hear from you.
Gracias y hasta mañana,
Carolina
