Spanish past tense participles, HABER and perfective tenses

In English one can say “do – done, write – written”, where “done” and “written” are past tense participles. In Spanish regular past tense participles are formed by changing a verb’s ending to:

-ADO for –AR verbs,

-IDO for –ER and –IR verbs.

Pasar – to pass, Pasado – passed

Comer – to eat, Comido – eaten

Incluir – to include, Incluido – included

And there are some exceptions:

Escribir – to write, Escrito – written

Hacer – to do, Echo – done

Poner – to put, Puesto – put

Morir – to die, Muerto – dead

Decir – say, Dicho – said

Satisfacer – to satisfy, Satisfecho – satisfied

Ver – to see, Visto – seen

Volver – to return, Vuelto – returned

Abrir – to open, Abierto – opened

Romper – to break, Roto – broken

Resolver – to resolve, Resuelto – resolved

Cubrir – to cover, Cubierto – covered

The perfective tenses consist of the verb HABER conjugated in an exact tense and a past tense participle, or if to say it simpler: HABER + PARTICIPLE.

The perfective Spanish tenses are equivalent of English perfective tenses like “I have done, I had done, I will have done, I would have done”. Notice, that the word “have” is not “tener” here despite it means “to have”.

Keywords for perfective tenses: Esta semana – this week, Este año – this year, Este mes – this month, Hoy – today, Ya – already, Todavía – still, Aún – yet.

And now, let’s learn more about HABER, and then look at practical examples.

HABER is a special verb that has two general ways of use:

– As an auxiliary verb to form a perfect tense, like English tense “I have done”, where “have” is equivalent of Spanish HABER.

– A verb for expressing existence of something, like “there is/are, there were, there will be”.

First of all, look at the table of its conjugation in all previously considered tenses:

*HAY – this form is used to say “there is/are”, check the next section.

Examples

Present perfect tense:

Yo lo he acabado ya – I have finished it already

Nosotros no hemos visitado Estados Unidos todavía – We have not visited USA still

El gato ha comido tres veces hoy – The cat has eaten three time today

Nuestros padres no han ido al mar este año – Our parents have not gone to the sea this year

Unos estudiantes han conversado con el profesor hoy – Some students have talked to the profesor today

El vendedor ha recibido su salario – The seller has received his salary

¿Qué vosotros esta semana? – What have you done this week?

Past perfect tense:

Cuando vine a la casa, mi mujer había cocinado la cena para mí – When I’ve come come, my wife had cooked a dinner for me

¿Le decimos a quién lo había escrito antes que nosotros? – Who had written it before we said it?

Durante dos meses este hombre había tradajado en la fábrica – During two months this man had been working in the factory

Ella y su marido habían estudiado en la universidad hasta el fin del año – She and he husband had been studying in the university until the end of the year

Después de que Luís había leído tu pregunta, se fue a consultarla en internet – After that Luis had read your question, he went to consult her in internet

Past perfect II (preterite perfect):

Después de que hubimos completado la tarea, ella llamó al jefe – After we had completed the task, she called the boss

Cuando mis amigos hubieron llegado, fuimos a jugar al fútbol – When my friends had arrived, we went to play football

Tan pronto nos hubiste dejado, empezamos trabajar – As soon as you left us, we started to work

Hube resuelto la tarea antes de que lección comenzara – I had solved this task before the lecture began

Yo hube de leerla un par de veces para entenderla – I had to read it a couple of times to understand it

Future perfect

¿Tú habrás venido a las nueve? – Will you have come until 9 o’clock?

Habremos tratado repararlo hoy – We will have tried to repair it today

Habré aprendido el idioma ruso antes del fin del año – I will have learned the Russian language before the end of the year

¿Ustedes se habrán mudado a Alemania en un año? – Will You move to Germany in one year?

Conditional

Yo habría vivido en este país por unos años – I would have lived in this country for a some years

Habríamos comprado un auto costoso si habría tenido un unos buenos negocios – We would have bought an expensive car if we had a good business

Mi amiga habría aprendido tocar la guitarra si hubiese tenido tiempo – My friend would have learned to play guitar if she had time

Examples with past tense participles

La novela fue escrita por el escritor famoso – The novel was written by the famous writer

La comida seré cocinada pronto – The food will be cooked soon

¿Qué fue construido en tú ciudad recientemente? – What was built in your city recently?

There is/are/were/will be

In Spanish language “There is/are/were/will be” are formed by forms of the verb HABER.

Hay – there is/are

Había, hubo – there was

Había, hubieron – there were

Habré – there will be

Habrá – there will be (plural)

Habría – there would be

Examples

Hay dos platos en la mesa – There are two plates on the table

¿Qué había construido en aquel lugar hace dos años? – What was built two years ago?

Habrá cinco estaciones nuevas de metro en nuestra ciudad en tres años – There will be five new metro stations in our city in three years

Hay más de ciento de ciudades en este país – There are more than one hundred cities in this country

Como recuerdo, siempre había los boletos baratos a este destino – As I remember, there have always been cheap tickets to this destination

Hubo un restaurante bueno en esta calle – There was a good restaurant on this street

Practice with these words:

Sitio web – website, Pagina – page, Ventana – window, Torre – tower, Cielo – sky, Sol – sun, Lluvia – rain, Nube – cloud, Azul – blue, Amarillo – yellow, Verde – green, Gris – gray.

Exercises

Use appropriate form of perfective tense.

1. ¿Por qué no lo  por un tiempo largo? (COMPRENDER – to understand) – Why have we not been understanding it for long time?
2. Yo lo  desde dos mil cinco! (DECIR – to say) – I have been saying that since 2012!
3. ¿Por qué  aquí? (ESPERAR – to wait) – Why have you(tú) waited for us here?
4. El compositor famoso  muchas canciones (CREAR – to create) – The famous composer has created many songs
5. La fábrica  dos mil computadoras (PRODUCIR – to produce) – The factory has produced two thousand computers
6. La impresora  tres cientos papeles ayer (IMPRIMIR – to print) – The printer has printed three hundred papers yesterday
7. La locomotora a la mitad del camino (ROMPERSE – to get broken) – The locomotive has got broken in the half of the way
8. Si hubiese sido* candidato la presidencia muchos cambios? (PROMETER – to promise) – If you(tú) were a presidental candidate, would you have promised many changes?

*- this is SER in subjunctive mood, learn more in the next lesson

Answers

a: hemos comprendido, b: he dicho, c: nos has esperado,

d: ha creado, e: ha producido, f: hubo imprimido, g: se ha roto,

h: habrías prometido.