Forms and Uses of the Perfect Tenses

• Perfect tenses are compound (two-word) verb conjugations that describe an event as completed as of a certain point in the present past or future.
  • Spanish perfect tenses correspond fairly consistently to English (I, you..., etc.) has/have talked, had talked, will have talked, would have talked, etc.
• They consist of a conjugated form of the auxiliary verb haber an invariable past participle (always ending in -o).
• Their uses and meanings correspond largely with their counterparts in English; see examples below.
• There are four non-subjunctive perfect tense conjugations, and two in the subjunctive.
  • Click on a link above to view the conjugation of a particular perfect tense.

• He probado ese plato una vez.
  • I've tried that dish once.
• ¿Has estado alguna vez en París?
  • Have you ever been in Paris?
• Vimos a Tomás ayer, pero no lo hemos visto hoy.
  • We saw Tomás yesterday, but we haven't seen him today.
• Nunca ha ocurrido un accidente así.
  • An accident like that has never happened.

• Antes del mes pasado, yo nunca había comido en ese restaurante.
  • Before last month, I had never eaten in that restaurant.
• Fuimos al estadio para ver un partido ayer. Antes, sólo habíamos visto los partidos en la tele.
  • We went to the stadium to see a game yesterday. Previously, we had only seen the games on TV.

• No puedo jugar al golf con Uds. mañana, porque ha habré salido para Chicago.
  • I can't play golf with you tomorrow, because I will have already left for Chicago.
• En dos o tres años, todos habrán adquirido teléfonos, estéreos y computadoras portátiles.
  • In two or three years, everyone will have acquired portable telephones, stereos and computers.

• Yo en una situación así habría hecho lo mismo que tú.
  • In a situation like that, I would have done the same as you.
• ¿Qué habríamos comido si tú no hubieras traído la comida?
  • What would we have eaten if you hadn't brought the food?

• Dudo que Mariana haya hecho lo que le pedí.
  • I doubt that Mariana has done what I asked of her.
• Es bueno que nadie haya salido.
  • It's good that nobody has left.
• Buscamos personas que ya hayan tomado el examen.
  • We're looking for persons who have already taken the exam.

• Prefería ir al cine con alguien que no hubiera visto la película.
  • I preferred to go the movies with someone who had not (already) seen the film.
• Esperaba que tu hubieras traído un postre o algo.
  • I was hoping that you had brought a dessert or somthing.