Talking about the Recent Past: the Present Perfect Indicative and Subjunctive

In English, when we talk about an action completed in the recent past, we use the helping verb to have to say to have done something, e.g, I have spoken, you have eaten, he has lived.

Spanish has a similar pattern, using a form of the helping verb haber in combination with the participle form of the verb. The participle is the -ed form of the verb (walked, talked).

To form the participle for -ar verbs, simply take off the -ar and add -ado:

• hablar -->  habl -->  hablado

for -er and -ir verbs, take off the -er or the -ir and add  -ido:

• comer -->  com -->  comido
  vivir -->  viv -->  vivido
  
  
  Yo he hablado  -- I have spoken; tú has comido -- you have eaten; ella ha vivido  -- she has lived

The present indicative conjugation of haber is:

yo	he
tú	has
él, ella, Ud.	ha
nosotros/as	hemos
vosotros/as	habéis
ellos/ellas, Uds.	han

The present perfect can also be formed using the present subjunctive conjugation of haber:

yo	haya
tú	hayas
él, ella, Ud.	haya
nosotros/as	hayamos
vosotros/as	hayáis
ellos/ellas, Uds.	hayan

There is an important number of irregular participles that do not follow the above rule.  Here is a list of some of the more important ones. They are very common and therefore, must be memorised:

• abierto -- opened
  dicho -- said
  escrito -- written
  frito --- fried
  hecho -- done, made
  muerto -- died, dead
  puesto -- put, placed
  visto -- seen
  

Very often, the participle form of the verb can also be used as an adjective:

• La tienda está abierta -- The shop is open
  El pescado está frito -- The fish is fried
  

As with most adjectives, the usual masculine or feminine, singular or plural endings must be used.