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Perfect Tenses
Present Perfect
Pluperfect (Past Perfect)
INTRODUCTION
The perfect tenses [tiempos perfectos] are
compound tenses [tiempos compuestos]; that
is, they are made up of two parts, a helping
verb [verbo auxiliar] and a past participle
[participio pasado].
PRESENT PERFECT
The present perfect tense in Spanish is formed
with:
• The present tense of the helping verb haber,
plus
• The past participle of the main verb.
Example:Yo he terminado mi proyecto.
Singular forms
Plural forms
Yo
he
Nosotros hemos
Tú
has
Vosotros habéis
Usted
Él/Ella
ha
Ustedes
Ellos/Ellas
han
The past participles are normally formed
by dropping the verb ending and adding:
-ado for –ar verb, hablar  hablado
-ido for –er and –ir verbs, comer  comido
and vivir  vivido.
Variations
-er and –ir verbs whose stems end in a vowel need a
written accent mark: leer  leído ; oír 
oído.
(copy the irregular past participles from p. 46 of
your book.)
Note:
Compound words based on these roots typically show
the same irregularities:
• Componer  Compuesto (repaired)
• Follow the same pattern to fill in the rest of the past
participles.
Uses:
The present perfect may be used to indicate an action or
state that has been completed. It is used in
almost the same way as we use it in English:
I have seen that movie.
He visto esa película.
Exceptions:
• To indicate an action that began in the past and is still
going on, use the present tense:
Hace 4 años que vivo en Texas.
I have been living (and am still living) in Texas for 4
years.
Exceptions:
• To express the idea of “to have just done something,”
use the present tense of acabar de plus the
infinitive verb:
Acabo de terminar mi proyecto.
I have just finished my project.
THE PAST PERFECT – el pluscuamperfecto
The past perfect tense views an action or
state as having occurred – and been completed –
at a time before another past action, state, or
time. It is used in almost exactly the same way as
we use it in English.
The wedding started at 3. By then, all the guests
had arrived.
La boda empezó a las 3. Para entonces,
todos los invitados habían llegado.
THE PAST PERFECT – el pluscuamperfecto
To form the Past Perfect, use the imperfect of
haber plus the past participle:
Yo había hablado.
Tú habías hablado.
Ud./él/ella había hablado.
Nosotros habíamos hablado.
Vosotros habíais hablado.
Uds./ellos/ellas habían hablado.