Whoever thinks up the names of tenses should have made a better job with the present perfect.
Why the present perfect? It would be better to call it the:
The "I have drunk 5 beers so I can't drive a car" tense.
The present perfect is used to describe an action that started and finished in the past, but has an influence on or affects the present.
An example of this in a very clear cut cause and effect way could be "I have had my hair cut". (right now it still probably looks freshly cut) .
A a less clear example could be:
I have been to Paris. That means that you are a person who at some time in the past went to Paris. So you, as a person are now in the "have been to Paris" club.
The present perfect is often acompanied by adverbials associated with the present. eg. I have driven a long way this week. I have eaten a lot today.
The good news is that the Spanish present perfect is very similar to the English version and it is very easy to use. If you have a low level of Spanish then you can make yourself understood very easily without having to know all the difficult verb conjugations that you need to know if you use the simple past.
An example of this could be:
Did you sing yesterday?
¿cantaste ayer?
If you don't know the past simple of to go in Spanish you could say this (which is sort of wrong) :
*Have you sang yesterday?*
*¿Has cantado ayer?*
Don't tell your Spanish teacher that I told you this.
Almost anything you can say about grammer is debateable.
You should learn your conjugations.
Irregular participles
Some verbs have irreglar participles. Reglar partpiciples are made like the following:
Regular AR verbs
hablado (just add ado to the stem)
Regular IR verbs
vivido (just add iso to the stem)
Regular ER verbs
bebido (just add ido to the stem)
Some common irregular participles.
Abrir - Abierto - to open
Cubrir - Cubierto - to cover
Decir - Dicho - To say
Devolver - Devuelto - to return
Escribir - Escrito - to write
Hacer - Hecho - to make/do
Ir - Ido - to go
Leer - Leído - to read
Morir- Muerto
Poner - Puesto - to put
Resolver - Resuelto - to resolve
Romper - Roto - to break
Ser -Sido - to be
Suscribir - Suscrito - to subscribe
Ver - Visto - to see
Volver - Vuelto - to return
Press Next button to Start
EXPLANATION:
The first line is word in English
The second word in Spanish
Use this lesson to rapidly increase your knowledge of the Present Perfect in Spanish.