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VerbsintermediateCEFR B1

Perfect Tenses: Present Perfect & Past Perfect

📋Overview🏗️Structure💡Examples⚠️Common Mistakes🧠Quiz📚Useful Resources

Overview / Usage

Perfect tenses in Spanish allow you to connect different time periods and show how past actions affect the present or relate to other past events. These compound tenses combine the auxiliary verb 'haber' with past participles.

🔗 Perfect Tenses Connect Time Periods

🎯 Present Perfect
"I have eaten" = He comido
Past action with present relevance
⏮️ Past Perfect
"I had eaten" = Había comido
Past action before another past action

Understanding perfect tenses helps you express complex temporal relationships and add sophistication to your Spanish communication.

Structure & Formation

📘 Present Perfect (Pretérito Perfecto)

Formation: Present tense of 'haber' + past participle

Present Tense of 'Haber'
yo he
tú has
él/ella ha
nosotros hemos
vosotros habéis
ellos han
Past Participle Formation

Regular -AR verbs: stem + -ado

hablar → hablado

Regular -ER/-IR verbs: stem + -ido

comer → comido
vivir → vivido
When to Use Present Perfect:
  • Recent past actions: He llegado tarde (I have arrived late)
  • Life experiences: He visitado España (I have visited Spain)
  • Actions continuing to present: He vivido aquí por 5 años (I have lived here for 5 years)
  • Today/this week/this year: Hoy he comido pizza (Today I have eaten pizza)

📙 Past Perfect (Pluscuamperfecto)

Formation: Imperfect tense of 'haber' + past participle

Imperfect Tense of 'Haber'
yo había
tú habías
él/ella había
nosotros habíamos
vosotros habíais
ellos habían
When to Use Past Perfect:
  • Action before another past action: Ya había comido cuando llegaste (I had already eaten when you arrived)
  • Past experiences by a certain point: Nunca había visto el mar (I had never seen the sea)
  • Reported speech: Dijo que había terminado (He said he had finished)

⚡ Common Irregular Past Participles

abrir → abierto
(opened)
decir → dicho
(said)
escribir → escrito
(written)
hacer → hecho
(done/made)
poner → puesto
(put)
ver → visto
(seen)

Examples

🎯 Present Perfect Examples

Recent Actions & Results
He perdido mis llaves
I have lost my keys (and still don't have them)
¿Has visto mi teléfono?
Have you seen my phone?
Life Experiences
Nunca he estado en México
I have never been to Mexico

⏮️ Past Perfect Examples

Sequencing Past Events
Cuando llegué, ya habían cenado
When I arrived, they had already had dinner

Gotchas / Common Mistakes

⚠️ Common Mistakes & Special Cases

❌ Mistake 1: Using Simple Past Instead of Present Perfect

Wrong: Hoy comí tres veces

Right: Hoy he comido tres veces

Why: "Today" is still ongoing, so use present perfect in Spanish.

❌ Mistake 2: Separating 'Haber' and Past Participle

Wrong: He siempre vivido aquí

Right: Siempre he vivido aquí

Why: Never separate 'haber' from the past participle.

Quick Test / Mini Quiz

📝 Perfect Tenses Quiz

Test your knowledge of present perfect and past perfect!

1

Complete: Esta mañana _____ (I have drunk) café.

2

Choose the correct form: Cuando llegamos al cine, la película ya _____.

3

Which sentence is correct?

4

Complete: _____ (They have written) tres libros este año.

5

Select the irregular past participle for 'hacer':

Useful Resources

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