The Present Perfect a. Repaso del participio pasado b. El presente perfecto

In English we form the present perfect tense by combining have or has with the past participle of a verb: - he has seen - have you tried? - they haven’t eaten.

I. To form the past participle of a verb in Spanish, you: a. keep the stem of the verb, b. detach the ending and add: ado to the stem of -ar verbs tomar tomado (taken) ido to the stem of most -er/-ir verbs comer comido (eaten) vivir vivido (lived)

An accent mark is added to the past participle of: –er and –ir verbs whose stems end in –a, -e, or –o. In other words: Certain verbs that have a double vowel in the infinitive form (except those with the double vowel ui ) require an accent mark on the i in the past participle. Let’s see some examples…

caer caídofallen creercreídobelieved leerleídoread oíroídoheard reírreídolaughed traertraídobrought

The following verbs have irregular participles: abrir ( to open) abierto (open) Imprimir (to print) impreso / imprimido (printed) freír (to fry) frito (fried) hacer (to do) hecho (done) morir (to die) muerto (dead) poner (to put) puesto (put) resolver (to resolve) resuelto (resolved) romper (to break) roto (broken) ver (to see) visto (seen) volver (to return) vuelto (returned)

Any verb derived from an irregular past participle will also have an irregular past participle: * cubrir (to cover) cubierto (covered) ~ descubrir (to discover / uncover) descubierto (uncovered / discovered) * decir (to say) dicho (said) ~ predecir (to predict / foretell) predicho (predicted, foretold) * escribir (to write) escrito (written) ~ describir (to describe) descrito (described)

In both English and Spanish, past participles may be used as adjectives to modify a noun. In Spanish, when the past participle is used as an adjective, it agrees in gender and number with the noun it modifies: Esa pintura fue hecha en el Perú That painting was made in Perú Las catedrales fueron construidas en The cathedrals were built in El arquitecto está desilucionado The architect is disillusioned El libro está abierto The book is opened Los problemas están resueltos The problems are resolved

II. The present perfect is a compound tense that requires two verbs: ~In English the present perfect is formed with the present tense of the auxiliary verb to have + past participle. ~In Spanish the present perfect is formed with the present tense of the auxiliary verb haber + past participle

Nota: Formas del verbo AUXILIAR: haber (to have) This is the HELPING verb haber (to have), and is not to be confused with the IMPERSONAL verb haber (there to be). There are two main uses for this verb: a. It is used with the past participle of other verbs to form the compound tenses, otherwise known as the "perfect tenses". b. It is sometimes used with the preposition de plus an infinitive to mean "to have to" or "to be supposed to".

Yo Tú Ud., él, ella Nosotros/as Vosotros/as Uds., ellos, ellas Haber He Has Ha Hemos Habéis Han } Past participle tomado comido vivido

¿Cuándo y cómo usamos el Presente Perfecto? -Veamos….

I. a. Expresses an action that happened immediately before the present Pretérito Presente perfecto Presente Ella ha perdido su maleta She lost her luggage b. Expresses an action that began in the past and continues until the present Lupe siempre ha sido optimista (y sigue siéndolo) Lupe has always been an optimist (and she still is)

II. The auxiliary verb haber agrees with the subject of the sentence. The past participle, however, is invariable when it forms part of the perfect tense ¿Has intentado hablar con tu amiga? Have you tried to call your friend? No, pero he hablado con su madre. No, but I’ve spoken to her mother

III. The auxiliary verb haber and the past participle cannot be separated by any other word. Objects pronouns and negative words are always placed before haber. ¿Has conocido al señor malhumorado? Have you met the bad-tempered man? No lo he conocido todavía No, I haven’t met him yet ¿Engañó el político a los votantes? Did the politician deceived the voters? Sin duda los ha engañado Without a doubt, he has deceived them

IV. The verb haber is not interchangeable with the verb tener. Haber means to have only when used as an auxiliary verb with the past participle. Tener means to have or to own in the sense of possession. El director del colegio tiene pocas opciones The school principal has few options Tienes un oso de peluche You have a teddy bear

V. Remember that you have to use the present tense of acabar de + infinitive in order to describe an event that has just happened. El vanidoso acaba de anunciar su buena fortuna The conceited man has just announced his good fortune Acabo de prevenir una crisis I have just prevented a crisis