I’ve noticed that a lot of my students have had trouble with the Present Perfect. Between the Indefinido, Imperfecto and Simple Present tenses, the Perfect falls through the cracks. Why add another, when these other tenses describe your life perfectly? Why say, “I have gone to the gym twice this week”, when you could just say “I went twice this week.” Redundant. Tiresome. Pointless.
We will first delve into the three most common reasons that students find this tense challenging and then look at how we can use this tense correctly in Spanish.
1. The use of the word ‘haber’ in the present perfect instead of ‘tener’.
Most speakers tend to translate directly from English. When you want to say “I have cooked us a lovely meal”, an unsuspecting user would tend to translate this sentence to “Nos tengo cocine/cocinar una comida deliciosa” or something akin to this statement. This is the most common beginner slip up. In our excitement and haste to translate to Spanish, we tend to translate word by word, with “tener” serving as the auxiliary verb instead of “haber”.
What learners need to understand is that “tener” has a fixed set of uses in Spanish – Age, Possession, Obligation and Fixed expressions.
Haber, on the other hand, is more versatile and is used to express “Have/Has” with verb constructs. With tenses.
“I have watched this TV show” must use “haber” as the auxiliary verb “have” and not “tener”. “He visto este programa”.
2. The English participle often resembles the past tense.
For example, in English both sentences have the same “word” that can get confusing when translating to Spanish.
I studied the document thoroughly. (Simple Past)
Vs.
I have studied the document thoroughly. (Present Perfect)
Both versions of the sentence have the same word “studied” leading students to translate their Spanish equivalents in the same way. i.e,
Yo estudiado el documento a fondo. (Incorrect)
vs.
Yo he estudiado el documento a fondo. (Correct)
OR
Yo estudie el documento a fondo (Correct)
vs.
Yo he estudiar/estudie el documento a fondo. (Incorrect)
3. The irregular participles can be confusing.
I have done – He hecho (Not hacido)
I have seen – He visto (Not veido)
I have put – He puesto (Not Ponido)
I have said – He dicho (not decido)
Yes, these participles can get confusing but its more practice than anything else.
How to use the Present Perfect correctly in Spanish?
To use this tense correctly in Spanish, we will remember three very simple rules.
Rule 1: Check the time period in which the action took place.
- Is the action over? Yes
- Is the time period in which the action took place over? Yes
- Use the simple past tense.
- Is the action over? Yes
- Is the time period in which the action took place over? Yes
- Use the present perfect.
Example:
Let’s choose the following:
Action: Eat
Time Period 1: Last Night
Time Period 2: Today
When did you eat the pizza?
1: Last night, last week, yesterday, last month, two days ago, last year, last month? Or any time period that is complete or “over”.
Use the simple past tense:
I ate pizza last night – Comí pizza anoche.
I ate pizza last week – Comí pizza la semana pasada.
I ate pizza at Papa John’s last month when I was here – Comí pizza el mes pasado cuando estuve aquí.
2: Today, this week, this month, this quarter, this year, ever, recently, lately. Or any time period that is ongoing.
I have eaten two slices of pizza today – He comido dos porciones de pizza hoy.
I have eaten pizza thrice this month – He comido pizza tres veces este mes.
I have never eaten pizza from Papa John – Nunca he comido pizza de Papa John.
Never – The ongoing time period here is in your lifetime.
*Please note that the same sentences in Present Perfect can be said in the simple past tense using the same time markers – today, this week, this month, this year, never. (Ever, lately and ultimately favour the present perfect over the simple past).
I ate two slices of pizza today – Yo comí dos porciones de pizza hoy.
I ate pizza thrice this month (Less common but can be used) – Comí pizza tres veces este mes.
I never ate from Papa John (This is not a common construction in Spanish).
Rule 2 : Use Haber Instead of Tener.
The rule for present perfect is
haber + participio
haber (have/has) + participio (action completed)
Where,
Haber is conjugated as :
Yo he
Tú has
Él / Ella / Usted ha
Nosotros/as hemos
Vosotros/as habéis
Ellos / Ellas/ Ustedes han
And participle is derived from the -AR, -ER or -IR verb.
AR > ado
ER/IR > ido
Hablar (to speak) > hablado (spoken)
Comer (to eat) > comido (eaten)
Vivir (to live) > vivido (lived)
So a few example sentences would be:
I have spoken to you – Yo he hablado contigo
She has eaten the pizza – Ella ha comido la pizza
We have lived in Russia – Hemos vivido en Rusia
Remember,
–ado, –ido are interpreted as “have or has spoken/eaten/lived” and not directly “spoken, eaten or lived” to avoid confusion with the simple present.
For example, “She has lived in Russia” is “Ella ha vivido en Rusia” and NOT “Ella vivido en Russia”.
Similarly, “She lived in Russia for 3 months” is “Ella vivió en Rusia durante tres meses” and NOT “Ella vivido en Rusia durante tres meses.”
Rule 3 : Some participles (participios) are irregular.
Hacer > hecho (not hacido)
Decir > dicho (not decido)
Escribir > escrito (not escribido)
Volver > vuelto (not volvido)
Poner > puesto (not ponido)
Ver > visto (not veido)
This will come with enough practice.
There you have it! Three simple rules to use the present perfect and make the perfect Spanish sentence.
- Identify the timeframe
- Use Haber not Tener
- Use the regular or irregular participle.
Easy peasy!
Good luck and reach out if you need more help with this.
