Key points about irregular verbs in the perfect tense in Spanish
- The perfect tense is made of the verb haber and a Form of the verb that expresses a completed action. Usually ends in 'ed' in English, eg watched, danced, visited..
- Some verbs have Something that does not follow the usual or ‘regular’ pattern. past participles.
- Irregular past participles include: Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. (said), Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. (done) and Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. (seen).
Video - Perfect tense in Spanish
Watch the video to find out about irregular past participles in Spanish.
Some past participles are irregular
Watch out! Some past participles are irregular.
Here are some of the most useful ones: Hacer (to do) becomes hecho,decir (to say) becomes dicho, poner (to put) becomes puesto’, ver (to see) becomes visto, escribir (to write) becomes escrito and abrir (to open) becomes abierto
For example, He hecho mis deberes - I have done my homework.
As you go around telling people what you’ve done, remember to keep the following rule in mind: Nothing gets between haber and the past participle! Nothing! Never put any other words between them. And now you have learnt the perfect tense.
Has aprendido el pretérito perfecto.
How to form the perfect tense in Spanish
There are two parts to the perfect tense - the verb haber and the Form of the verb that expresses a completed action. Usually ends in 'ed' in English, eg watched, danced, visited..
The first part of the perfect tense is the present tense of the verb haber, which is known as an auxiliary verb. An auxiliary verb, also called a helping verb, is a verb that is used with another verb (or two other verbs) in a verb phrase.
| Pronoun | Present tense of haber |
|---|---|
| I (yo) | Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. |
| You informal singular (tú) | Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. |
| He/she/it/ formal you singular (él/ella/usted) | Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. |
| We (nosotros) | Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. |
| You informal plural (vosotros) | Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. |
| They/ formal you plural (ellos/ellas/ustedes) | Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. |
The second part of the perfect tense is the past participle. The past participle usually ends in ed in English.
For example:
- watched
- played
- visited
Irregular past participles
Some verbs have Something that does not follow the usual or ‘regular’ pattern. past participles.
For example:
| infinitive | past participle |
|---|---|
| Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. - to say | Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. - said |
| Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. - to describe | Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. - described |
| Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. - to write | Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. - written |
| Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. - to make/do | Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. - done |
| Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. - to put | Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. - put |
| Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. - to see | Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. - seen |
| Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. - to return | Check your connection, refresh the page and try again. - returned |
For example:
Lo he dicho. - I said it.
Ha escrito una carta a su novio. - He has written to his boyfriend.
Hemos hecho nuestros deberes. - We have done our homework.
Lo han puesto sobre la mesa. - They put it on the table.
Have a look at the regular verbs in the perfect tense guide to find out when to use the perfect tense and how to form it with regular verbs.
Irregular verbs in the perfect tense in Spanish - Mini quiz
Translate the following into Spanish using the verb hacer (to do):
I have done my homework.
He hecho mis deberes.
Translate the following into Spanish using the verb ver (to see):
We have seen the film.
Hemos visto la película.
Quiz - Irregular verbs in the perfect tense in Spanish
Practise what you've learned about irregular verbs in the perfect tense in Spanish with this quiz.
Now you have learned about irregular verbs in the perfect tense in Spanish why not explore irregular verbs in the present tense in Spanish?
More on Past tense verbs
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