Beginning Spanish ¡Empecemos por aquí!

398 •  Chapter 5: Nuestro pasado to express many concepts. We have waited long enough! The present perfect tense is what we need in order to express experiences we have had in the past. How is it formed? The present perfect tense is formed by combining the present tense of the verb haber with the past participle of the main verb. We have seen haber meaning “to exist” in the form hay . In the perfect tenses, though, haber is more closely translated as “to have” (but not in the way that tener means “to have”). Haber is very irregular in the present tense: Haber Yo he Tú has Ella, él, usted ha Nosotras, nosotros hemos Ellas, ellos, ustedes han Alternative forms Vos has Vosotros habéis Past participles are formed by removing the -ar , -er , or -ir from the infinitive form of a verb and then adding -ado to the -ar verbs and -ido to the -er and -ir verbs. hablar → hablado comer → comido vivir → vivido Past participles do not change form according to the subject; they are not conjugations. For the present perfect tense, they must be used with the verb haber . He hablado con el agente de viajes, pero me dijo que no puede ayudarme. ¿Ya has comido el sándwich que te preparé? ¿Te gustó? Mi familia ha vivido en esa casa por cinco años. There are a few common verbs with irregular past participles: romper → roto hacer → hecho decir → dicho poner → puesto escribir → escrito volver → vuelto ver → visto morir → muerto abrir → abierto