Present Perfect
Pretérito perfecto
He hablado: talking about recent and life-experience past.
The rule
The present perfect (pretérito perfecto) is a compound tense, two words: the present tense of haber + the past participle. Use it for the recent past and for past events that still matter now ('¿Has comido?' / '¿Has estado en España?'). Haber here is an auxiliary meaning 'to have'; it is never used like tener: you can't say 'yo he un libro' (that's 'tengo un libro').
Forms of haber: he, has, ha, hemos, habéis, han. Regular participles: -ar → -ado, -er/-ir → -ido.
Examples
He vivido acá por muchos años.
I have lived here for many years.
¿Has comido? — Sí, he comido.
Have you eaten? Yes, I have.
Ella ha escrito la carta.
She has written the letter. (escrito is an irregular participle)
No hemos hecho nada.
We haven't done anything. (hecho is an irregular participle)
¿Has visto a Tom hoy?
Have you seen Tom today? (perfect (relevance now) vs preterite '¿Viste a Tom?')
Try it yourself
Three quick questions, straight from the app. No sign-up needed.
Which sentence is in the present perfect?
recent past with relevance now
All 15 Present Perfect questions, free in Hablaba
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