The Spanish present perfect tense is one of the most useful conjugations you can learn to express yourself. And the good news is – it’s not actually that difficult! While there are a couple of parts to it that need explaining, conceptually it’s easy to understand.
In this article, we’ll go over the different parts, how to use the present perfect, and a few regional differences. Stick around to the end of the article and we’ll go over the most difficult part – differentiating between the present perfect and the simple past.
So I hope you have your notebook out because ¡ya hemos empezado!
Spanish Present Perfect Tense Definition
The present perfect is a compound tense that is used to describe recent past events or some past action that currently affects the present. Well – we can get into those details in a minute since there are several different ways to use it.
Ironically, even though it’s called a present tense, it most commonly refers to the past. So try to keep that in mind as we go along.
This verb form is also known as el pretérito perfecto compuesto. In other words – the compound preterite perfect tense.
That’s in contrast to the pretérito perfecto simple, affectionately known as the preterite tense or the past simple tense.
It’s also important not to mix the present perfect with the Spanish past perfect!
It’s considered a compound tense because you need two separate verbs to create it. Luckily though, both verbs tend to be easy to conjugate.
Let’s look into that now.
How to Form the Present Perfect Tense
In order to use the Spanish present perfect, we’ll need a main verb and an auxiliary verb.
If you don’t remember what an auxiliary verb is – think of it as a “helper” verb. We have lots of these in English. For example, you can say:
- What do you like to eat?
- Have you eaten dinner?
In those examples, “do” and “have” function as auxiliary verbs. They don’t really have a meaning on their own here. Instead, they’re just kind of supportive players helping out.
In Spanish, we’ll use the auxiliary verb haber for the present perfect conjugation.
Auxiliary Verb Haber Conjugation
The auxiliary verb haber can be used in combination with a past participle to create the present perfect. Here, the verb haber is conjugated according to the subject. For this compound form, we should put haber in the present tense.
Let’s take a quick look at the conjugation chart before moving forward:
| Spanish Personal Pronouns | Haber Present Tense |
| Yo (singular) | He |
| Tú / vos (singular – informal) | Has |
| Usted (singular – formal) | Ha |
| Él / Ella (singular) | Ha |
| Nosotros (plural) | Hemos |
| Ustedes (plural – Latin America) | Han (you all) |
| Vosotros (plural – Spain) | Habéis (you all) |
| Ellos / Ellas | Han |
As you can see, haber is a pretty irregular verb, but it shouldn’t take too long to memorize it. And since you’ll need to know it every time you want to use the present perfect – there’s no better time to start memorizing than now!
Past Participle Conjugation
Now that you’ve got the auxiliary verb haber down, it’s time to move on to the second part of the compound tense. We’ll be using the participle form of the main verb in the sentence.
In general, AR, ER, and IR verbs each have their own ending. The good news is – it’s only one ending each! You don’t need to conjugate based on the subject, so that makes it even easier!
Here are the endings for the past participles.
| AR Verbs (Hablar) | ER Verbs (Corrrer) | IR Verbs (Pedir) |
| Hablado | Corrido | Pedido |
So AR verbs simply are replaced with -ado, while ER and IR verbs have the infinitive ending changed to -ido.
Simple, right?
Plus, the majority of the past participles are regular verbs. However, there are a few irregular past participles we should go over now.
Still need some help with the Spanish Past Participles? Check out our full-length guide for more practice.
Irregular Past Participle
Unfortunately, you wouldn’t be learning Spanish if you didn’t run into a million irregular past participles. So let’s check out this list of irregular past participles that just need to be memorized:
| Infinitive | Participle | English |
| Escribir | Escrito | Write / Written |
| Morir | Muerto | Die / Dead |
| Romper | Roto | Break / Broken |
| Volver | Vuelto | Return / Returned |
| Abrir | Abierto | Open / Opened |
| Poner | Puesto | Put / Put |
| Ver | Visto | See / Seen |
| Hacer | Hecho | Do / Done |
| Decir | Dicho | Say / Said |
| Satisfacer | Satisfecho | Satisfy / Satisfied |
When to use the Spanish Present Perfect Tense
Now it’s time to move on to the fun part. Of course, the first step in working on your language skills is memorizing some of the conjugation charts. But if you want to start sounding like a native Spanish speaker – it’s time to learn how to use the present perfect naturally.
In general terms, there are three main ways to use the present perfect. If you really want to get down to the nitty-gritty, there are more. But you probably want to keep things simple, right?
Let’s go over the first two usages: ongoing actions and recent events.
Ongoing Actions
While the present perfect isn’t used exactly like in English, there are some similarities sometimes. For example, for things that began in the past and are still true in this present moment, we can use the present perfect tense.
This is especially useful when you want to describe actions that have happened over a long period of time. For example:
- He vivido en California desde el año 2000. – I’ve lived in California since 2000.
In this example, you started to live in California a long time ago, and that is still true. So the present perfect can express that connotation.
However, here’s another example that’s similar, but slightly different.
- Me he roto una pierna. – I broke a leg.
In this example, breaking your leg is a completed action. You’re not still in the process of having it broken. However, the result of your leg getting broken still affects you in the present moment.
Plus, we aren’t really talking about exactly when it happened – just that it did. So if you wanted to specify the time, you would say, “la semana pasada, me rompí una pierna”.
In that case, we use the simple past (the preterite) since you are specifying a timeframe.
Recent Events
The next way to use the present perfect is to talk about events that have recently happened. This means for things that happened in the same day, or for a past event that is marked by este/esta.
QUICK NOTE…
This usage of the present perfect is only used by native speakers from most of Spain. A native speaker from Latin America would not use this grammar topic like this.
Here are some examples to see how we can use the present perfect to express a past tense.
- Ya he comido hoy. – I’ve already eaten today.
- ¿Habéis acabado? – Have you all finished?
- Este fin de semana, hemos ido a Barcelona. – This past weekend, we went (we’ve gone) to Barcelona.
- Se me ha desconectado el wifi. – My Wi-Fi has disconnected.
Just like the English counterpart would be used in some British English dialects, you can use the present perfect to replace the simple past for events that happened very recently.
In other words, the following two sentences:
- Fui a correr.
- He ido a correr.
…have two different meanings in Spain. The second sentence implies that this action happened today. However, in the rest of the Spanish-speaking world, the first sentence would be used regardless of the time.
Pronoun Placement
Before going over the third and final way to use the present perfect, Spanish has a couple of rules in terms of pronouns that we should address.
Since we are using two verbs in the same clause, it’s helpful to review the order in which we place everything.
In general, if you are using a reflexive verb or you just have object pronouns, you’ll add the pronoun to the very beginning – before the auxiliary verb haber. Just like in the following examples:
- No te lo he dicho. – I didn’t tell you about it.
- Les han dado un premio. – They’ve given them a prize.
- Ya nos hemos visto esta mañana. – We’ve already seen each other this morning.
So whether it’s an object pronoun or a reflexive pronoun, it’ll go before haber.
If you’re having trouble with pronoun placement, don’t forget to check out our reflexive verbs in Spanish guide.
Present Perfect Subjunctive
Another important note to keep in mind about the present perfect is that everything you’ve seen so far has been in the indicative mood. However, you can also use the present perfect in the subjunctive mood, as well.
To do so, the past participle doesn’t change at all. The only thing that changes is that we need to change the verb haber into the present subjunctive.
Auxiliary verb haber
The conjugation for this verb isn’t too complicated. Plus, if you haven’t studied the subjunctive yet, it’s a great introduction to the topic. If you want to learn Spanish, you’ll have to master this concept at some point.
So there’s no better day than today, right? In any case, here is the conjugation for haber in the present perfect subjunctive:
Conditional tense: suggestions
| Spanish Personal Pronouns | Haber Present Subjunctive |
| Yo (singular) | Haya |
| Tú / vos (singular – informal) | Hayas |
| Usted (singular – formal) | Haya |
| Él / Ella (singular) | Haya |
| Nosotros (plural) | Hayamos |
| Ustedes (plural – Latin America) | Hayan (you all) |
| Vosotros (plural – Spain) | Hayáis (you all) |
| Ellos / Ellas | Hayan |
Conditional tense: requests
When to use Spanish present perfect subjunctive
Now the next step is to quickly review when you should utilize the present perfect subjunctive, rather than the indicative.
If you’re keeping up to date with your Spanish lessons, this should be super easy! That’s because you basically just use the subjunctive form whenever you would for a normal verb, too.
But just in case you haven’t got that far yet, here are a few guidelines:
- The subjunctive form usually needs a subject change.
- You can use it in clauses that express desire, wishes, emotion, doubt, or uncertainty.
- You can use it in clauses that express the future.
Now of course – that’s a very hyper-condensed explanation. We’ll go over the subjunctive in its entirety another day. For now, let’s look at some examples:
Triggering the subjunctive
- Espero que hayas tenido un buen día. – I hope you’ve had a good day.
- Dudo que haya gastado tanto dinero. – I doubt he/she spent so much money.
- Avísame cuando hayas acabado. – Let me know when you’ve finished.
The first two examples are clear uses of a clause that expresses emotions (desire and doubt). So in these cases, the second part of the sentence uses the verb haber in the subjunctive form, but there is no change to the past participle.
In the last sentence, we’re going to have the same tense to express an event that will finish in the future. So the future part triggers the subjunctive, but the fact that the event is not yet completed triggers the perfect tense.
Present Perfect vs Past Simple
Finally – what you’ve been waiting for this whole time. The third and final usage of the present perfect. This one was saved for last because it’s the most difficult.
So put on your philosophical thinking cap to discuss this conceptual difference between the present perfect and the past simple.
The past simple, or past imperfect tense, emphasizes and focuses on the specific point in time when something happened.
The present perfect emphasizes and focuses on the fact that something has happened – regardless of the specific time.
In order words, it’s simply a matter of perspective. Let’s look at a couple of contrastive examples:
- Nunca he estado en Nueva York. – I’ve never been to New York.
- Nunca estuve en Nueva York. – I was never in New York.
While the difference is small – it certainly matters. The present perfect expresses that never in your entire life have you traveled to NY. However, the past tense is focusing on a time frame. Maybe someone accused you of playing hooky and you went to NYC, so you need to clear things up.
The next pair of examples is a similar situation:
- Viste a Juan tocar la guitarra? Sí, lo vi anoche. – Did you see Juan play the guitar? Yeah, I saw him last night.
- Has visto a Juan tocar la guitarra? Sí, lo he visto, es muy bueno. – Have you ever seen Juan play the guitar? Yeah, I’ve seen him. He’s really good.
So the first example is focusing on a specific time, not just the conceptual idea of having seen him at some point. The present perfect, on the other hand, expresses the fact of seeing Juan at some point.
When it comes to the present perfect, Spanish certainly requires you to do some conceptual thinking. However, once you grasp this grammar concept, you’ll see that it’s actually an incredibly useful resource.
¡Ya lo has hecho!
That’s it! You’re officially a pro at this. This is one of the more complicated grammar topics, so if you’ve got this far – you should be proud.
It might take some time to practice how to form the present perfect and to get used to using it naturally.
But that’s why we’re here! Go ahead and sign up for a free private class or a 7-day free trial of our group classes to practice what you learned with us.
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