🌸 The Present Perfect and Pluperfect in Spanish 🌙
In Spanish there are two main forms of verbs in the perfective aspect: the present perfect (es presente perfecto) and the pluperfect (el pluscuamperfecto). These verb forms are conjugated by combining some conjugation of 'haber' with a past participle.
🌸 Part I - Past Participles 🌙
So what even is a past participle? A past participle is essentially a way of stating that an action has been completed. We do this in English typically by adding -ed to the end of a verb (ex. create » created). This way a verb can be used with a perfective aspect (ex. I have finished the assignment) and can also be used as an adjective (ex. it is finished).
In Spanish the past participle serves the same function. It can be used to put an action in the perfective aspect (ex. yo he comido “I have eaten”) or as an adjective (ex. está comido “it’s eaten”). There are three main categories of verbs in the past participle in Spanish.
The first category is the past participle of regular -ar verbs (ex. cantar, bailar, gritar, etc.) To put these verbs in the past participle simply remove the -ar at the end of the verb and replace it with -ado.
Examples:
cantar (sing) » cantado (sang, sung)
bailar (dance) » bailado (danced)
gritar (scream) » gritado (screamed)
necesitar (need) » necesitado (needed)
viajar (travel) » viajado (traveled)
The second category is the past participle of regular -er and -ir verbs (ex. comer, correr, venir, etc.) To put these verbs in the past participle simply remove the -er or -ir and replace it with -ido.
Examples:
comer (eat) » comido (eaten)
correr (run) » corrido (ran)
venir (come) » venido (came)
tener (have) » tenido (had)
sentir (feel) » sentido (felt)
Note! There are some verbs which are still regular -er and -ir verbs that get an accent right before the ‘d’ but still are regular. This happens mainly for pronounciation purposes and to keep the proper stress, as this tends to happen with -er/-ir verbs with diphthongs. Some examples are:
leer (read) » leído (read)
caer (fall) » caído (fallen)
traer (bring) » traído (brought)
The third and final category of past participles is the irregular ones, of which there are a good number. Some of these are similar to each other, but in general they dont follow a singular rule with which we can categorize them with other past participles. These are:
abrir (open) » abierto (opened)
absolver (absolve) » absuelto (absolved)
cubrir (cover) » cubierto (covered)
descubrir (discover, reveal) » descubierto (discovered, revealed)
decir (say) » dicho (said, spoken)
describir (describe) » descrito, descripto* (described)
desdecir (deny) » desdicho (denied)
deshacer (undo, unmake) » deshecho (undone, unmade)
elegir (choose, elect) » elegido, electo (chosen, elected)**
escribir (write) » escrito, escripto* (written)
hacer (do, make) » hecho (done, made)
morir (die) » muerto (dead)
poner (put, place) » puesto (put, placed)
redecir (retell) » redicho (retold)
rehacer (redo, remake) » rehecho (redone, remade)
resolver (resolve, figure out) » resuelto (resolved, figured out)
romper (break) » roto (broken)
satisfacer (satisfy) » satisfecho (satisfied)
ver (see) » visto (seen)
* - the forms escripto and descripto are used primarily in Rioplatense Spanish in Argentina and Uruguay. You don’t have to learn these forms unless you plan on using this dialect or you’ll be coming into contact with it a lot.
** - the form elegido is completely regular, the other form electo is not, however. This form is mainly used to mean “elected”, though, whereas “chosen” is more commonly said as the regular elegido.
It is important to note that the past participle is not the same as the past tense. The past participle cannot stand on its own, whereas a past tense verb can. To say “escrito” (written) without further context would be grammatically incorrect, however to say “escribí” (I wrote) without further context would be grammatically correct. The past participle always needs another word to help it out, and it cant stand on its own. To do so is sort of like just saying “written” as a sentence in English. It just doesn’t work, it leads to questions like “what was written? who wrote it? what are you even talking about?” Meanwhile you can totally say “I wrote” as a sentence in English and it makes total sense. It’s the same in Spanish.
🌸 Part II - The Present Perfect 🌙
The present perfect is used to talk about an action that has been finished at the time of speaking. It’s similar to the preterite in that it tends to describe actions which have been completed once. For example the sentences “I haven’t eaten today”, “have you made a decision?”, and “have you ever been to Spain?” would all use the present perfect in Spanish. The form is often equivalent to “have ___” in English.
To conjugate verbs in the present perfect you take the present tense form of haber and make it agree with the pronoun of the person(s) who has done the action:
Yo he = I have ___
Tú / vos has = You have ___
Él/ella ha = He/she has ___
Usted ha = You have ___ (formal)
Nosotros/nosotras hemos = We have ___
Vosotros/vosotros habeís = You all have ___ (informal, chiefely Castilian Spanish)
Ellos/ellas han = They have ___
Ustedes han = You all have ___ (formal in Castilian Spanish, normal form in Latin America where “vosotros“ is uncommon)
Once you have the present form of haber and you’ve properly conjugated it, add the past participle after it and you have a verb in the present perfect! Ex:
Tengo hambre, ya no he comido - I’m hungry, I haven’t eaten yet
¿Hoy has ido a la escuela? - Have you gone to school today?
Él nunca ha viajado a México - He’s never been to Mexico
Ella lo ha dícho a su mamá - She’s told her mom about it
¿Usted ha escrito el artículo? - Have you written the article?
Nosotros no hemos asistido a la iglesia - We haven’t been to the church
Nosotras todavía no lo hemos leído - We still haven’t read it
¿Vosotros habeís cocinado algo? - Have you guys cooked anything?
¿Vosotras no lo habeís visto? - Y’all haven’t seen it?
Ellos no han elegido nada - They haven’t chosen anything
Ellas no han cocinado nada - They haven’t cooked anything
Ustedes lo han leído el libro - You all have read the book
Some notes about the use of the present perfect:
In Riplatense Spanish the present perfect has been almost entirely replaced by the preterite. Thus in Rioplatense Spanish you’d be more likely to hear for example Viajé a Buenos Aires (I went to Buenos Aires) rather than He viajado a Buenos Aires (I’ve traveled to Buenos Aires.)
In Latin America as a whole, you’re far more likely to hear the preterite instead of the present perfect to describe actions in the recent past, whereas in Spain you’re more likely to hear the present perfect. So unlike in Latin America where one might say hoy comí una arepa muy rica (I ate a really great arepa today) in Spain you’re more likely to hear someone say hoy he comido una arepa muy rica (today I’ve eaten a reeally great arepa.)
If an direct or indirect pronoun is used alongside the present perfect, it will never cut between the conjugated haber and the past participle. For example, to say no he se lo dido would be incorrect, the correct way would be no se lo he dido (I haven’t given them it.) The direct and/or indirect object pronoun is placed before the conjugated haber, not after.
🌸 Part III - The Pluperfect 🌙
The pluperfect is used to talk about an action which was completed at the time the speaker is talking about. It’s like in English saying “I had eaten the banana” versus saying “I’ve eaten the banana.” You will often see this conjugation used alongside words like ya (already) or todavía (still, yet) since it will often describe an action which is already done by the time the speaker talks about it.
To conjugate verbs in the pluperfect you take the imperfect tense form of haber and make it agree with the pronoun of the person(s) who has done the action:
Yo había = I had ___
Tú / vos habías = You had ___
Él/ella había = He/she had ___
Usted había = You havd___ (formal)
Nosotros/nosotras habíamos = We had ___
Vosotros/vosotros habíais = You all had ___ (informal, chiefely Castilian Spanish)
Ellos/ellas habían = They had ___
Ustedes habían = You all had ___ (formal in Castilian Spanish, normal form in Latin America where “vosotros“ is uncommon.
Once you have the imperfect form of haber and you’ve properly conjugated it, add the past participle after it and you have a verb in the pluperfect! Ex:
Ya había comido cuando él venió - I had already eaten when they came
Tú/vos habías leído el libro antes de la clase - You’d read the book ahead of the class
Él había hablado con su mamá cuando yo llamé - He’d spoken with his mom when I called
Ella te había escrito un mensaje cuando tú/vos llamaste - She’d already written you a message when you called
¿Había usted tomado agua antes pasó? - Had you drank water before it happened?
Nosotros ya habíamos elegido algo cuando llegaste - We’d already chosen something when you arrived
Nosotras lo habíamos hecho cuando nos llamaste - We’d already done it when you called us
Vosotros ya habíais visto la película - You guys had already seen the movie
Vosotras habíais elegido una película cuando llegué - Y’all’d already chosen a movie when I came
Ellos todavía no lo habían visto - They still hadn’t seen it
Ellas ya habían comido cuando su mamá las preguntó - They’d already eaten when their mom asked them
Ustedes habían leído el libro - You all had read the book
A note about the usage of the pluperfect:
If an direct or indirect pronoun is used alongside the pluperfect, it will never cut between the conjugated haber and the past participle. For example, to say ya había se lo dido would be incorrect, the correct way would be ya se lo había dido (I’d already given them it.) The direct and/or indirect object pronoun is placed before the conjugated haber, not after.
Disclaimer: I’m not a native speaker of Spanish, just a lover of the language. If there are any mistakes or things you think I missed please let me know so I can correct this post! 💖
