How to Use the Spanish

Present Perfect Tense

How to Use the Spanish
Present Perfect Tense
The choice of when to use the present perfect tense isn’t straightforward. This is
because a lot of subtleties come into play.

Often there is a tricky decision that you have to make between the present perfect
and past preterite. Fortunately, though, there are some Spanish phrases that will
simplify your choice.

As a tense, the Spanish present perfect gives so much in terms of versatility and
simplicity.

The present perfect is the first tense I recommend you learn in order to start
talking about the past in Spanish.

I recommend you start with this tense because it is the easiest past tense to learn
and because it can be used in most situations (even when it is technically wrong).

That said, when you combine the present perfect with the phrases in this post you
will avoid any technical errors.

Here, you’ll learn how and when to use the Spanish present perfect tense. You’ll
also learn about 8 Spanish phrases that enforce this tense to be applied.

How to form the Spanish present perfect tense

I will quickly go over the present perfect tense also known as the pretérito
perfecto.

For a further explanation of this tense check out this podcast episode.

In order to form the Spanish present perfect you need to combine the present
conjugations of haber with a past participle.

The formula looks as follows:

Pretérito perfecto = Haber + participio.

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Here is a list of the present conjugations of haber:

PERSON HABER
Yo He

Tú Has

Él / Ella Ha

Nosotros Hemos

Vosotros Habéis

Ellos Han

Next, you need to form a past participle out of the verb you want to use.

In order to form past participles for regular ar verbs, you need to remove the ar
and replace it with an ado. For example:

Hablar → Hablado.

In order to form past participles for regular er and ir verbs, you need to remove the
er or ir and replace it with an ido. As follows:

Conocer → Conocido.

Now you can combine haber and past participles to form the present perfect. Here
are a few quick examples (more later on):

English: I have eaten.

Español: He comido.

English: They have said it.

Español: Lo han dicho.

English: We have gone to the market.

Español: Hemos ido al mercado.

Another post I wrote this week explains how to form the past participles in more
detail and includes a list of all of the irregular past participles. To master this tense,
you’ll need learn the irregular past participles and then get used to applying the
phrases below.

Next, when exactly is the right time to use the Spanish present perfect tense?

When to use the present perfect tense

The next thing you need to consider is the time frame for which the present
perfect applies.

Here you can see there are three main Spanish time frames for events in the past:

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What this graph is demonstrating is that a past event could occur as follows:

• Started recently and continues into the present moment.

• Started and stopped at two defined points in time.

• Continued for a long period of time, it isn’t obvious when it started and
stopped but it is no longer happening in the present.

These three descriptions broadly describe the use of the present perfect, the past
simple and the past imperfect.

To reiterate, any event that started in the past and continues into the present
moment requires the use of the present perfect tense.

For example, if you went to the bank this morning, then this action has happened
in this day (today). Since today isn’t over yet, you need to use the present perfect
tense.

There are a lot of nuances and questions that can arise around this topic. For
instance, you may think that you are now in the afternoon and the morning is over
so this would call for the preterite. But, this isn’t the case. The key is to notice the
word “this”.

If something happened yesterday morning, then the word “yesterday” would call
for the past simple. But the event happened “this” morning which means you
need to use the present perfect.

Moreover, if something happened “this week”, “this month” or “this year” then
these phrases all call for the present perfect. Here, I’m jumping the gun, I’ll get into
the phrases in the next section.

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Spanish phrases that trigger the present perfect
tense
Since the present perfect requires an event to start (often recently) and continue
into the present moment, then all phrases that trigger the present perfect will
imply this timeline for the events of the sentence.

1. Today – Hoy

Whenever you want to talk about something that has happened today, you should
use the present perfect.

English: Today, I went to the gym.

Español: Hoy, he ido al gimnasio.

English: We finished our last exam today.

Español: Hemos terminado nuestro último examen hoy.

2. This morning, this afternoon, this evening – Esta mañana, esta tarde,
esta noche

As I mentioned earlier, even if something happened this morning and you are
currently in the middle of the afternoon you still need to use the present perfect.

English: This morning I got up at six.

Español: Esta mañana me he levantado a las seis.

English: This afternoon we ate in the park.

Español: Esta tarde hemos comido en el parque.

3. This week, this month, this year – Esta semana, este mes, este año

Continuing with the use of the word “this”, you can also talk about wider
timeframes such as “this month” or “this year”.

English: This month I have been very busy.

Español: Este mes he estado muy ocupado.

English: My parents returned from vacation this week.

Español: Mis padres han vuelto de sus vacaciones esta semana.

4. Lately, recently – Últimamente, recientemente

A more subtle and less descriptive version of “this day, week, month etc.” is lately or
recently.

English: I recently met an amazing girl.

Español: Recientemente, he conocido a una chica increíble.

English: I recently realised what I have to do to solve this problem.

Español: Últimamente he dado cuenta de lo que tengo que hacer para
resolver este problema.

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5. Never, ever – Nunca, jamás

The next three phrases extend to timeframes that expand across your whole life
and, again, continue into the present moment.

If you have “never” tried something, this is as true in the present moment as it was
when you were born.

English: I have never tried octopus.

Español: Nunca he probado el pulpo.

English: He has never written anything like that.

Español: Él jamás ha escrito nada así.

6. Already, still – Ya, todavía

If you “still” haven’t done something or it is “already” done, then the action
continues into the present moment.

English: You still haven’t gone to the doctor?

Español: ¿Todavía no has ido al médico?

English: I have already done exercise.

Español: Ya he hecho el ejercicio.

If you aren’t talking about the event itself (the point in time) when you did exercise,
you are just simply stating the fact that it has “already been done” by you, then you
need to use the present perfect. This is because the “already been done” continues
into the present even though the exercise finished sometime ago.

Learn more about ya and todavía in this podcast.

7. All my life, in my life – Toda mi vida, en la vida.

Similar to the “never” and “already” triggers, “all my life” triggers the present
perfect.

English: I haven’t heard something so strange in my life.

Español: No he oído algo tan extraño en mi vida.

English: All my life I haven’t left the country.

Español: Toda mi vida no he salido del país.

8. Sometime, a few times, several times, # times – Alguna vez, algunas

veces, varias veces, # veces

If you are counting the number of times you have done something, you should use
the present perfect.

English: I have been to this restaurant ten times.

Español: He estado en este restaurante diez veces.

English: I have tried to stop smoking several times.

Español: He intentado dejar de fumar varias veces.

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Your Turn
I mentioned earlier that the choice of when to use present perfect isn’t
straightforward. The phrases from this post do, however, make your life easier.

Choose some phrases from this post and then try them out when you next get an
opportunity.

It is worth testing your use of this tense against the use of the past preterite
because they are common challenge for Spanish students.

What other sentences in the present perfect can you create using these
sentences?

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