what is it?
Compound tenses in Spanish are formed by combining the auxiliary verb haber with the past participle of the main verb. These tenses—the present perfect, pluperfect, future perfect, and conditional perfect—express actions that are completed relative to another point in time. The past participle remains invariable when used with haber, never changing for gender or number.
when to use it
Present perfect (he hablado): to describe actions completed in a time period that includes the present, or recent past actions with relevance to now.
Pluperfect (había hablado): to express actions completed before another past action or moment.
Future perfect (habré hablado): to indicate actions that will be completed by a future point in time, or to express conjecture about past events.
Conditional perfect (habría hablado): to describe hypothetical actions that would have been completed in the past, or to express conjecture about past events from a past perspective.
formation
All compound tenses follow the same pattern: conjugate haber in the appropriate tense, then add the past participle. The past participle is formed by replacing the infinitive ending: -ar → -ado, -er/-ir → -ido.
| tense | haber conjugation | example (hablar) |
|---|---|---|
| present perfect | he, has, ha, hemos, habéis, han | he hablado |
| pluperfect | había, habías, había, habíamos, habíais, habían | había hablado |
| future perfect | habré, habrás, habrá, habremos, habréis, habrán | habré hablado |
| conditional perfect | habría, habrías, habría, habríamos, habríais, habrían | habría hablado |
Common irregular past participles include abierto (abrir), dicho (decir), escrito (escribir), hecho (hacer), muerto (morir), puesto (poner), roto (romper), visto (ver), and vuelto (volver).
examples in context
common pitfalls
Using ser or estar instead of haber. Unlike French or Italian, Spanish perfect tenses always use haber, never ser or estar. Say he llegado, not *soy llegado or *estoy llegado.
Inflecting the past participle for gender or number. When used with haber, the past participle is invariable. Say las chicas han llegado, not *han llegadas. The participle only agrees in gender and number when used as an adjective (e.g., la puerta está abierta) or with ser in passive constructions.
Three sentences, graded here. Nothing is saved and no account is needed.
Tú ___ mucho desde que empezaste a comer mejor — ¡ya no estás tan flaco! (adelgazar)
Fill in the blank with the correct compound tense form of the verb in parentheses.