The PERFECT tense is used to talk about something you have done. To form you use the following structure:

HABER + past participle

The parts of HABER in the present are:

he / has / ha / hemos / habéis / han

The past participle is formed by adding -ado to the stem of ar verbs, and by adding -ido to the stem of er and ir verbs. Both parts are then put together. Por ejemplo:

yo tú él/ella nosotros vosotros ellos/ellas

TOMAR: he tomado has tomado ha tomado hemos tomado habéis tomado han tomado

COMER: he comido has comido ha comido hemos comido habéis comido han comido

VIVIR: he vivido has vivido ha vivido hemos vivido habéis vivido han vivido

2. The Spanish perfect is used just as the English and is translated as ‘I have…’, ‘you have…’, ‘he has…’ etc.

Han llegado temprano.
They have arrived early.

Note - The past participle is invariable – it doesn’t change in spelling, only the corresponding part of HABER changes.

Note - The auxiliary HABER is never separated from the past participle.

Note – If the sentence is in the negative form, the NO goes before both parts of the perfect tense.

3. Some verbs have irregular past participles. These include:

Infinitivo Participle Inglés
ABRIR ABIERTO OPENED
CUBRIR CUBIERTO COVERED
DECIR DICHO SAID, TOLD
DESCRIBIR DESCRITO DESCRIBED
DESCUBRIR DESCUBIERTO DISCOVERED
DEVOLVER DEVUELTO RETURNED
ESCRIBIR ESCRITO WRITTEN
HACER HECHO MADE
MORIR MUERTO DIED, DEAD
PONER PUESTO PUT, PLACED
ROMPER ROTO BROKEN
VER VISTO SEEN
VOLVER VUELTO RETURNED

Note - Compound words based on these roots typically show these same irregularities:

Por ejemplo: componer > compuesto
deshacer > deshecho
oponer > opuesto
suponer > supuesto
prever > previsto

	Created by T Mason over 10 years ago

GCSE Languages (Spanish) Note on GCSE Spanish - Verb Tenses #1, created by T Mason on 30/07/2014.