El presente perfecto de indicativo (Present Perfect in the Indicative Mood)

Ready for a new verb tense? In this section, you will learn about presente perfecto de indicativo. Let’s dive in!

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The presente perfecto  in Spanish is a tense used to talk about actions that happened in the past but are still connected to the present moment. It is similar to the English structure formed with “have/has” + the past participle, for example, “I have walked my dog today.”

How do we form the presente perfecto in Spanish? You will need the following formula:

present tense of haber + past participle of the main verb

Note that for this tense, haber is used as an auxiliary verb, and it is conjugated as follows:

Now, for the second part of the formula, you will need the past participle of the main verb. How do we form the past participle? Follow these simple rules, depending of the type of verb:

-AR verbs → Replace "-ar" with "-ado"

comprar → comprado (to buy > bought)

-ER / -IR verbs → Replace "-er" or "-ir" with "-ido"

comer → comido (to eat > eaten)

vivir → vivido  (to live > lived)

Note that there are some irregular past participles, for example:

• escribir → escrito

• to write → written

• poner → puesto

• to put → put

• hacer → hecho

• to do/make → done/made

• ver → visto

• to see/watch → seen

• decir → dicho

• to say → said

Remember when you learned about the past participle with the verb estar in a previous chapter? Something very important to keep in mind is that, for the present perfect tense, even though the past participle is formed in the same way, it does not work as an adjective, and therefore (unlike with estar + past participle), it does not vary in gender and number. Here are some examples of the present perfect in context:

• Esta mañana, tú has paseado a tu perro. 🐕‍🦺🚶🏽‍♀️

• This morning, you have walked your dog.

• Hoy nosotras hemos visto un video sobre elefantes en clase. 📽️🐘

• Today we have watched a video about elephants in class.

Now, when do we use the present perfect tense? As mentioned in the introduction, to talk about past actions with relevance to the present, for example:

• Ellos no han viajado este verano. ⛱️ ☹️

• They have not traveled this summer.

In the example above, the person is referring to something in the past, but summer is not over yet, therefore the connection to the present moment. You can also use the presente perfecto to talk about life experiences without specifying when, for example:

• ¿Has estado en una granja? 🧑‍🌾🌽

• Have you ever been to a farm?

Given the connection between past and present, there are certain time expressions that are commonly used and/or trigger the presente perfecto:

• hoy

• today

• esta semana

• this week

• este mes

• this month

• este año

• this year

• ya

• already

• todavía no

• not yet

• nunca

• never

• alguna vez

• ever

• siempre

• always

Note: In most Spanish-speaking countries, the preterite tense (which you learned before) is the default tense used to talk about the past, whether it is still connected to the present or not. The present perfect is more widely used in Spain and some parts of Ecuador, Bolivia, and Perú for this specific purpose of connecting the past with the present. Once upon a time, there was a 1989 movie called Honey, I Shrunk the Kids. Have you seen it? The Spanish translation used the present perfect tense in Spain, while in some Latin American countries it was translated using the preterite, as shown in the movie posters below.

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