Notes
Past participles
- Regular: -ar → -ado, -er/-ir → -ido. Accent when the stem ends in a strong vowel: leído, creído, oído, traído, caído.
- Irregular: abierto, cubierto, dicho, escrito, hecho, muerto, puesto, resuelto, roto, visto, vuelto (and compounds: descubierto, devuelto, descrito).
- In perfect tenses the participle never changes. As an adjective it agrees: las puertas cerradas.
The three perfect tenses
| Tense | Haber | Use |
|---|---|---|
| Present perfect | he, has, ha, hemos, han | what has happened (He terminado.) |
| Past perfect | había, habías, había, habíamos, habían | what had happened before another past moment (Ya había salido.) |
| Present perfect subjunctive | haya, hayas, haya, hayamos, hayan | after WEIRDO triggers for completed actions (Espero que hayas llegado.) |
- Pronouns and negatives go before haber: Nunca lo he visto. Ya lo había leído.
- Nothing may come between haber and the participle.
- Use the indicative after certainty (Es verdad que han ganado) and the subjunctive after doubt or emotion (Dudo que hayan ganado).
Topics in this unit
Each topic has its own short notes and practice.
Practice
Volver has the irregular participle vuelto.
Setting the table happened before the guests arrived, so the past perfect is used: había puesto.
Plural subject: han. The participle never changes in perfect tenses.
Emotion trigger + completed action requires the present perfect subjunctive.
Object pronouns go before haber, and no word may split haber from the participle.
Había preparado (past perfect) happened before llegó.
Free response
Write your answer first, then open the scoring guide.
Free-response question
Lee: "Ayer visité a mi abuela. Cuando llegué, ella ya había cocinado una paella enorme. Nunca había comido una paella tan rica. Mi abuela espera que yo haya aprendido su receta."
(a) Explain why "había cocinado" is in the past perfect.
Show the answer and scoring guide
The cooking happened before another past event (the narrator's arrival, in the preterite), so the past perfect shows which action came first.
Check off the points you earned:
(b) Explain why "haya aprendido" is subjunctive.
Show the answer and scoring guide
It follows "espera que," an expression of hope (a WEIRDO trigger). The perfect form shows the learning is completed.
Check off the points you earned:
(c) Write two Spanish sentences: one in the present perfect about something you have done this week, and one in the past perfect using "antes de" or "ya."
Show the answer and scoring guide
Example: Esta semana he estudiado mucho para un examen. / Ya había terminado la tarea antes de la cena.
Check off the points you earned: