How to Form the Present Perfect

The present perfect is formed by using the auxiliary verb haberin the present indicative, followed by a past participle.

How to Conjugate Haber

Since haber is an irregular verb, let's review how to conjugate it.

Present Indicative Conjugation Table for Haber

Regular Past Participles

An essential part of using the present perfect correctly is knowing how to form the past participle.

To form the past participle of a regular verb, you drop the infinitive ending (-ar, -er, -ir) and add -ado to the stem of -ar verbs and -ido to the stem of -er and -ir verbs. This is equivalent to adding -ed to many verbs in English.

Let's take a look at a few regular past participles.

Irregular Past Participles Ending in -To and -Cho

Quite a few Spanish verbs have irregular past participles that don't end in -ado or -ido. Let's take a look some common ones!

Past Participles with Accents

If an -er or -ir verb stem ends in a vowel, then the past participle is written with an accent over the i.

Here are some examples of common past participles with an accented i. For a more exhaustive list, click here.

Present Perfect Uses

Talking about Life Experiences

We use the present perfect to talk about life experiences and things you have done, without saying specifically when you did them. It is also used to talk about how many times you've done something.

Check out these examples.

Recent Completed Actions

We also use the present perfect to talk about recent finished actions that have a present result.

Check out these examples.

Unfinished Situations

Finally, we use the present perfect to talk about situations that started in the past and continue until now.

Take a look at these examples.

Key Words

Here are some key words that trigger the use of the present perfect.