• What it is (qué es)
• Conjugation (conjugación)
  • Negative sentences (oraciones negativas)
  • Questions (preguntas)
  • Contractions (contracciones)
• Regular past participles (participios pasados regulares)
• Irregular verbs (verbos irregulares)

What it is (qué es)

In Spanish, besides the pretérito perfecto simple (fui, comí, compré) and the pretérito imperfecto (iba, comía, compraba), we have the pretérito perfecto compuesto: he ido, he comido, he comprado.

🔹 En español, además del pretérito perfecto simple (fui, comí, compré) y del pretérito imperfecto (iba, comía, compraba), tenemos el pretérito perfecto compuesto: he ido, he comido, he comprado.

In English, this tense is called the present perfect and it is built with the verb to have followed by the past participle of the verb.

🔹 En inglés, este tiempo verbal se llama present perfect y se forma con el verbo to have seguido del participio pasado (past participle) del verbo.

I have eaten. (He comido).

She has visited Madrid. (Ella ha visitado Madrid).

Conjugation (conjugación)

I have + past participle

you have + past participle

he / she / it has + past participle

we have + past participle

you have + past participle

they have + past participle

Negative sentences (oraciones negativas)

We add not after have/has:

🔹 Añadimos not después de have/has:

I have not eaten. (No he comido).

She has not visited Madrid. (Ella no ha visitado Madrid).

Questions (preguntas)

We invert the subject and the verb have/has:

🔹 Invertimos el sujeto y el verbo have/has:

Have you eaten? (¿Has comido?)

Has she visited Madrid? (¿Ella ha visitado Madrid?)

Contractions (contracciones)

In the present perfect, it is very common to contract the subject and the verb have/has:

🔹 En el present perfect es muy común contraer el sujeto y el verbo have/has:

I have => I've [aɪv]

you have => you've [ju:v]

he has => he's [hi:z]

she has => she's [ʃi:z]

it has => it's [ɪts]

we have => we've [wi:v]

they have => they've [ðeɪv]

In negative sentences, we can contract the verb and the negative particle:

🔹 En las oraciones negativas podemos contraer el verbo y la partícula negativa:

have not => haven't ['hævənt]

has not => hasn't ['hæzənt]

Just like with to be, there are two possible contractions. We recommend the second one:

🔹 Igual que con to be, hay dos contracciones posibles. Recomendamos la segunda:

I have not eaten => I've not eaten / I haven't eaten

she has not eaten => she's not eaten / she hasn't eaten

Regular past participles (participios pasados regulares)

The past participle of regular verbs is identical to the past simple: we add -ed to the infinitive. And it is pronounced the same way.

🔹 El participio pasado de los verbos regulares es idéntico al past simple: se forma añadiendo -ed al infinitivo. Y se pronuncia de la misma manera.

worked => I have worked. (He trabajado).

cooked => She has cooked. (Ella ha cocinado).

lived => They have lived. (Ellos han vivido).

studied => We have studied. (Hemos estudiado).

Irregular verbs (verbos irregulares)

Many verbs have irregular past participles. Here is a list of the most common irregular verbs with their three forms (infinitive / past simple / past participle):

🔹 Muchos verbos tienen participios pasados irregulares. Aquí va una lista de los verbos irregulares más comunes con sus tres formas (infinitivo / past simple / participio pasado):

be / was, were / been [bɪn]

become / became / become [bɪ'kʌm]

begin / began / begun [bɪ'gʌn]

break [breɪk] (romper) / broke / broken ['broʊkən]

bring / brought [brɔt] / brought

build / built [bɪlt] / built

buy / bought [bɔt] / bought

choose / chose / chosen ['tʃoʊzən]

come [kʌm] / came / come

cut [kʌt] (cortar) / cut / cut

do / did / done [dʌn]

draw / drew / drawn [drɔn]

drink / drank / drunk [drʌŋk]

drive / drove / driven ['drɪvən]

eat / ate / eaten ['i:tən]

fall / fell / fallen ['fɔlən]

feel / felt [fɛlt] / felt

find / found [faʊnd] / found

fly / flew / flown [floʊn]

forget / forgot / forgotten [fər'gɑtən]

get / got / gotten ['gɑtən]

give / gave / given ['gɪvən]

go / went / gone [gɔn]

grow / grew / grown [groʊn]

have / had [hæd] / had

hear / heard [hɜrd] / heard

hide / hid / hidden ['hɪdən]

keep / kept [kɛpt] / kept

know / knew / known [noʊn]

leave / left [lɛft] / left

lose / lost [lɔst] / lost

make / made [meɪd] / made

meet / met [mɛt] / met

pay / paid [peɪd] / paid

put [pʊt] / put / put

quit [kwɪt] (dejar) / quit / quit

read / read [rɛd] / read

ride / rode / ridden ['rɪdən]

run [rʌn] / ran / run

say / said [sɛd] / said

see / saw / seen [si:n]

sell / sold [soʊld] / sold

send / sent [sɛnt] / sent

sing / sang / sung [sʌŋ]

sit / sat [sæt] / sat

speak / spoke / spoken ['spoʊkən]

spend / spent [spɛnt] / spent

steal / stole / stolen ['stoʊlən]

swim / swam / swum [swʌm]

take / took / taken ['teɪkən]

teach / taught [tɔt] / taught

tell / told [toʊld] / told

think / thought [θɔt] / thought

throw / threw / thrown [θroʊn]

understand / understood [ʌndər'stʊd] / understood

wear / wore / worn [wɔrn]

win / won [wʌn] / won

write / wrote / written ['rɪtən]