Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
If we want to talk about something that we have done, we use the present perfect. It
is a specific verb form that describes something in the recent past—this is in contrast to
using the past tense. In this video we will examine why we use this form in the first
place, and how to create the past participles that we will need in order to use the present
perfect in Spanish. So what is the present perfect? In linguistic
terms, we're talking about a verb form that is in the present, is perfective in aspect,
and can be used in both the indicative and subjunctive moods.
First: present tense. The present perfect is connected with the present tense—so much
so, in fact, that the conjugated auxiliary verb is in the present tense.
Second: Perfective aspect. As you will recall from our preterite versus imperfect video,
aspect is how we describe time—it is the difference between preterite (which is punctual
aspect) and imperfect (which is durative aspect). Here, we are talking about perfective aspect.
Perfective aspect relates to that verb's tense and before. So in this case, the present perfect
talks about the present tense and before...and we will see this in a moment.
Third, we have the present perfect in both the indicative and subjunctive moods. That
means that all of the rules that we have studied about the present subjunctive previously will
also apply to the present perfect. Namely, if we have a trigger verb that expresses doubt,
emotion, or desire and recommendation, and a 'que' that introduces a second clause, the
verb in the second clause will be in the subjunctive mood.
Let's look at this in a more graphic representation. Say that there is a timeline that
can be represented by an X-axis. The y-axis is the present tense. So everything at the
left of the y-axis is considered past tense, while everything to the right of the y-axis
is considered future tense. Ok? So with this in mind, let's talk about what
we have learned recently with regard to tense and aspect. We know that both preterite and
imperfect are in the past tense, and they have zero connection to the present. They
describe events and background descriptions in the past.
What is the present perfect? As you can see, it is connected to the present, but it reaches
a little bit in the past tense. It is still connected to the present, but deals with something
that has just recently happened. These rules apply to English just as they do to Spanish.
Let's see this in motion, in a real sentence. First let's consider the sentence: "I have
eaten this morning." Since it still describes something that has happened in this day—so,
still relevant to the present—it makes sense. Next, consider this sentence: "I have eaten
yesterday." Now, that doesn't quite make sense—yesterday is no longer part of this day, so using the
present perfect doesn't make sense. The present perfect in English is formed by
using the verb 'have' as an auxiliary, or helping, verb, and the past participle, which
usually ends in --en or --ed. The auxiliary verb 'have' is conjugated in the present tense.
In Spanish, the rules are very similar. In the present perfect in both English and
Spanish, we use past participles. What are they?
A participle is a fancy way of saying that a verb has been turned into an adjective.
We use these all the time—and not simply in the present perfect. We create new adjectives
all the time from verbs, and since they are adjectives, when they are used as such, they
always conform to the same rules as other adjectives: they agree in gender and number
with the noun that they modify. However, this really only happens when the participles are
used with either ser or estar, as regular adjectives. When we use them with haber in
the present perfect, they are not agreeing with any noun.
So how do we form a past participle in Spanish? We start with the infinitive form of the verb,
then take off the --ar, -er, or --ir, and then add either --ado for --ar verbs, or --ido
for --er and --ir verbs. Let's look at how this works with most verbs in Spanish: caminar
would lose its --ar, forming the root 'camin-', and then we add --ado to make 'caminado'.
Comer would lose its --er to form the root 'com-', and then we add --ido to make the
past participle 'comido.' The same would hold for a verb like vivir: lose the --ir to make
the root viv-, then add the --ido to make the participle 'vivido.'
In fact, even our ever-troublesome, ever-irregular buddies ser, estar, and tener are perfectly
normal and regular in the past participle. It's a miracle, to be sure!
But, of course, life can't be all normal and regular. There are some irregular past participles
in Spanish, although not many. In fact, this is really the entire list:
Hacer's past participle is hecho; decir's is dicho; for escribir it is escrito, and
for poner it is puesto. The past participle for romper is roto; for abrir it is abierto,
and for morir it is muerto. For resolver it is resuelto, while for volver it is vuelto.
For ver it is visto, and for cubrir it is cubierto. Yes, this is it: eleven verbs in
total have irregular past participles. Well, that's not entirely true, because many
of these verbs can take prefixes to make new verbs—and these compounded forms all have
the same past participle as the base verb, just with the prefix also attached. For example,
poner is frequently compounded, and if for example we want to create the verb componer,
which means 'to compose', the past participle for componer is going to have the prefix com-
again with the past participle of poner, or compuesto. Volver also is frequently compounded,
say with the prefix de- to make devolver, meaning 'to return something back to someone,'
or 'to devolve.' The past participle for devlolver uses this same prefix de- with the past participle
for volver, or devuelto. Cubrir is another verb that has a derived form: if you put des-
in front of it, it becomes descubrir, meaning 'to discover'. If we use that same prefix
des- with the past participle for cubrir, we will get the past participle for descubrir:
descubierto. There are other verbs on this list that have
compounded forms, such as hacer and decir, among others. It is always the same process
to make the past participle of those compounded verbs.
In fact, you have been learning a series of adjectives since you started down this Spanish
language journey that actually have been past participles. These adjectives all describe
states, and you have learned them up until now as such—adjectives that describe states
of being. But in truth, these adjectives all were formed from verbs, and they all have
verb counterparts in the Spanish language. This procedure is frequently done in Spanish,
just as it is in English and other languages: we create adjectives from verbs to create
words to describe states of being. Spanish is no different.
Ok, now that we have talked about how to form past participles, let's see how that participle
is going to play a part in the present perfect. Remember that the present perfect is used
because we want to describe an action that is relevant to the present and the 'immediate'
or 'recent past'. Essentially we are using the present perfect to describe what we have
just done. This is as true in Spanish as it is in English.
We form the present perfect in Spanish by conjugating the verb haber and using the past
participle right afterwards. Note that before now, we have used haber in existential constructions—translated
as 'there is' or 'there were', as in hay, había, etc. But that is only one use of haber;
it is actually an auxiliary verb meaning 'have', and it has a full complement of conjugations.
In the present tense indicative we conjugate it as: yo he, tú has, él/ella/Usted ha,
nosotros hemos, and ellos/ellas/Ustedes han. So we will pair one of those forms of haber
with a past participle, and we get the present perfect of that main verb.
So, 'he hablado' means 'I have talked'; 'has comido' means 'you have eaten'; 'ha vivido'
means 'he or she has lived'; 'hemos hecho' means 'we have made or done'; and 'han visto'
means 'they have seen'. When we think of the subjunctive form of the
present perfect the formula is the same: we still are conjugating haber and then
following it with the past participle. But this time we need the present subjunctive
of haber, which follow the pattern based off of the yo form: yo haya, tú hayas, él/ella/Usted
haya, nosotros hayamos, and ellos/ellas/Ustedes hayan. This form of present subjunctive of
haber is still followed by the past participle of whatever main verb that you are intending
on using. The conditions for the use of the subjunctive
are still the same as they were before. We use the present perfect subjunctive in order
to describe something that we hope, wish, doubt or want that something has already happened.
For example, Espero que mi hermano haya comprado hielo. We still have our conditions for subjunctive:
a trigger in 'espero,' a que that leads another clause. And this time, we are hoping that
something has already happened: I hope (that) my brother has bought ice.' Another example:
El professor duda que los estudiantes hayan estudiado mucho. Again, our subjunctive conditions
have all been met: we have our trigger verb in 'duda', and a que that introduces another
clause. And again, we are describing a situation where someone doubts that something has happened
already: 'The professor doubts that the students have studied much.'
Hopefully this video clarifies how to use the present perfect in Spanish, both in indicative
and subjunctive constructions.