Present perfect tense
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The present perfect tense is a perfect tense used to express action that has been completed with respect to the present. (It is considered a present tense, not a past tense, since the resulting state is in the present.) "I have finished" is an example of the present perfect. The Present Perfect is a compound tense; it is formed by using the present tense of "have" ("have" or "has") and the past participle of a verb. In the above example, the past participle "finished" is the main verb, while "have" is the auxiliary verb.
This construction is one of the hardest points of grammar for people to understand. It is used to refer to a subject's past actions or states while keeping the subject in a present state of reference or in a present state of mind. Think of the words in the construction separately: "have" (or "has") is in the present, and the past participle is in the past. For example, "I have gone to the cinema" implies that the subject has completed a certain action (this is what "gone" relates), but that the subject is, in a sense, "holding" or "possessing" that completed action in the present time (this is what "have" relates). In other words, the subject is in a current state (now), and a past action that the subject has done or a past state that the subject has been in, is being referred to from the current state of the subject, which is the present time. This differs from the simple past tense, i.e., "I went to the cinema", which implies only that an action happened, with the subject having no relationship at all to the present.
Another example:
The boy saw the car. (Emphasis is on the fact that the boy saw the car.)
The boy has seen the car. (Emphasis is on the present state of the boy, resulting from the fact that he saw the car.)
I left Argentina 8 years ago.
I have left Argentina for now.
In summary, both the present perfect tense and simple past tense are used for past actions or states, but the present perfect describes the present state of the subject as a result of a past action or state (i.e., the subject is being talked about in the present), whereas the simple past describes solely a past action or state of the subject (i.e., the subject is being talked about in the past).
In other words, it places the subject in the result phase of the event.
[edit] Spanish Present Perfect
The Spanish Present Perfect is called "Perfecto de indicativo" and is a verb tense that uses the present tense of haber as an auxilary verb with the past participle of the verb. This tense translates as "I have done".
Regular past participles are formed by replacing the -ar ending of the infinitive of first declension verbs with -ado, and the final 2 letters of second or third declension verbs with -ido.
There are many irregular forms of the past participle, for example escrito from escribir and roto from romper.
Typical conjugation:
| -ar verbs (hablar) | -er verbs (comer) | -ir verbs (vivir) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | He hablado | He comido | He vivido |
| tú | Has hablado | Has comido | Has vivido |
| él ella usted | Ha hablado | Ha comido | Ha vivido |
| nosotros | Hemos hablado | Hemos comido | Hemos vivido |
| vosotros | Habéis hablado | Habéis comido | Habéis vivido |
| ellos ellas ustedes | Han hablado | Han comido | Han vivido |
