Present Perfect

Present Perfect 

The perfect present is roughly equivalent to the Spanish preterite. We will see the differences in the section on applications. Overall, it is a mixture between the present and the past. We used it for past actions that are important in the present.

Grammatical Rules (Reglas gramaticales)

Form (Forma)

To form the present perfect, the auxiliary verb "to have" in the present and the past participle of the verb is used. For regular verbs, the past participle is the simplest form of the past. See the lesson on the simple past for more information on how to form the past

Subject	Auxiliary	Short Form	Past Participle
I, You, We, They	have	I've, you've, we've, they've	talked, learned, traveled...
He, She, It	has	he's, she's, it's	talked, learned, traveled...

Note: Ten en cuenta que hay muchos participios pasados irregulares en inglés. A continuación tienes una lista de unos de los participios pasados irregulares más comunes.

Verb	Past Simple	Past Participle
Play be	Play was/were	Play been
Play do	Play did	Play done
Play go	Play went	Play gone
Play make	Play made	Play made
Play see	Play saw	Play seen

Structure (Estructura

Affirmative Sentences (Frases afirmativas)

structure

Subject + auxiliary verb ("to have") + past participle ...

Examples:

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   I've talked to Peter. (He hablado con Peter.)
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   She's gone to work. (Ha ido a su trabajo.)
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   We've been to London. (Hemos ido a Londres.)
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   They've learned English. (Han aprendido inglés.)

Negative Sentences (Frases negativas)

structure

Subject + auxiliary verb ("to have") + "not" + past participle ...

Examples:

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  I haven't talked to Peter. (No he hablado con Peter.)
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  She hasn't gone to work. (No ha ido a su trabajo.)
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  We haven't been to London. (No hemos ido a Londres.)
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  They haven't learned English. (No han aprendido inglés.)

1. Interrogative Sentences (Frases interrogativas)

structure

Auxiliary verb ("to have") + subject + past participle ...?

Example:

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  Have you talked to Peter? (¿Has hablado con Peter?)
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  Has she gone to work? (¿Ha ido a su trabajo?)
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  Have you been to London? (¿Has ido a Londres?)
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  Have they learned English? (¿Han aprendido inglés?)

Uses (Usos)

 The present perfect for actions that occurred at a specific time not used before now. The specific time is not important. Therefore, we do not usually use specific time expressions ("this morning", "yesterday", "last year" ...) with the present perfect. You can use the present perfect with no specific time expressions ("never", "ever", "many times", "for", "since", "already", "yet" ...). This concept of no specific time is quite difficult to understand, for this reason, then you have the particular uses of the present perfect.

Se usa el presente perfecto para describir una experiencia. No lo usamos para acciones específicas.

Examples:

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  I have never flown in a plane. (Nunca he volado en un avión.)
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   He has worked in many different museums. (Ha trabajado en muchos museos diferentes.)
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  We have been to Río de Janeiro. (Hemos ido a Río de Janeiro.)

Se utiliza el presente perfecto para un cambio en el tiempo.

Examples:

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  I have become more timid in my old age. (Me he vuelto más tímido en mi vejez.)
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  Their English has improved a lot this year. (Su inglés ha mejorado mucho este año.)
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  He has learned to be more patient. (Ha aprendido a ser más paciente.)

Used to successful.

Examples:

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  Our football team has won the championship three times. (Nuestro equipo de fútbol ha ganado el campeonato tres veces.)
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  Dan has finished writing his first novel. (Dan ha terminado de escribir su primera novela.)
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  Scientists have succeeded in curing many illnesses. (Los científicos han tenido éxito en la curación de muchas enfermedades.)

We use the present perfect for actions that have not yet happened. The use of the present perfect in these cases indicates that we are still waiting for action, therefore, often use adverbs "yet" and "still".

Examples:

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  The plane hasn't arrived yet. (El avión no ha llegado todavía.)
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  Our team still hasn't won a championship. (Nuestro equipo aún no ha ganado un campeonato.)
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  You haven't finished your homework yet? (¿No has acabado todavía los deberes?)

The present perfect is used to talk about actions at different times in the past. The use of the present perfect in these cases indicates that more actions are possible in the future.

Examples: 

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  We have spoken several times, but we still can't reach an agreement. (Hemos hablado varias veces, pero todavía no podemos llegar a un acuerdo.)
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  Our team has played 4 games so far this year. (Nuestro equipo ya ha jugado 4 partidos este año.)
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  I love New York! I have been there 5 times already and I can't wait to go back. (¡Me encanta Nueva York! Ya he estado allí 5 veces y no puedo esperar para regresar.)

In general, we use the present perfect continuous for situations that have started in the past but continue into the present. But as we have seen, there are some verbs that can not be used in continuous tenses. In these cases, we use the present perfect.

Examples:

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  How long has Michael been in Barcelona? (¿Cuánto tiempo ha estado Michael en Barcelona?)
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  I have loved you since the day I met you. (Te he querido desde el día que te conocí.)