hablar to speak | |
---|---|
yo he hablado | nosotros/as hemos hablado |
tú has hablado | |
él/ella/usted ha hablado | ellos/as/ustedes han hablado |
The present perfect (pretérito perfecto or presente perfecto) is very similar in form and use to the English present perfect .
Form
The present perfect is a compound tense made of 2 words that cannot be separated:
- The present indicative of the auxiliar verb haber
- The past participle (-ado/-ido form) of the main verb
I think that the people that have influenced my life and that have had a big impact are not necessarily teachers. They are the teachers at home, my parents, who have always been motivating me, have been supporting me in all the decisions I make. Raúl, ese niño es el que nos ha dado más scares.
Raúl, that kid is the one that has given us more scares.
Uses
The present perfect is used when
- talking about a past action that happened in a time period close to the speaker/writer’s present
- in the sentence there is a time expression that refers to an ongoing or not completed time period
Some time expressions that usually are accompanied by the present perfect are: hoy, today, esta mañana, this morning, esta semana, this week, este año, this year, este mes, this month, ya, already, todavía, yet, alguna vez, some time, etc. These time expressions can also be used with the preterit.
¿Y alguna vez te ha dado vergüenza porque vives en los Estados Unidos?Have you ever been embarrassed because you live in the United States?