Generally in Spain and, in some cases, also in Latin America, to describe things you have done in the past, you’ll need to use the Spanish Pretérito Compuesto.

Spanish verbs are conjugated depending on their endings (-ar, –er, –ir). The Spanish Preterite tense has the same endings for the last two endings (-er and –ir).

Spanish Pretérito Compuesto

Haber
First, look at the verb haber in its present form. It’s basically used to build the Pretérito Compuesto, you won’t normally see it alone.

Haber
he
has
ha
hemos
habéis
han

Participle
Now, let’s look at the participle. To build it, take the stem off the verb and add the ending –ado for the verbs ending in –ar, or –ido for those ending in –er or –ir.

CantarComerVivir
cantadocomidovivido

Spanish Pretérito Compuesto

To form the Spanish Pretérito Compuesto, you should simply use haber and a participle. Have a look at the Spanish Pretérito Compuesto forms of the verbs cantar (to sing), comer (to eat) and vivir (to live).

CantarComerVivir
he cantado
has cantado
ha cantado
hemos cantado
habéis cantado
han cantado		he comido
has comido
ha comido
hemos comido
habéis comido
han comido		he vivido
has vivido
ha vivido
hemos vivido
habéis vivido
han vivido

Hemos cantado en un concierto.

We have sung in a concert.

No has comido estas enchiladas porque son muy picantes.

You haven’t eaten these enchiladas because they are very spicy.

Ella ha vivido en varios países.

She has lived in many countries.

Uses of Spanish Pretérito Compuesto

Let’s look at some time expressions that are used with the Spanish Pretérito Compuesto.

Nunca
Use this tense together with nunca to describe things that you have never done.

Yo nunca he cantado en un coro.

I have never sung in a choir.

¿Nunca has comido mole? Es delicioso.

Haven’t you ever eaten mole? It’s delicious.

Carla y yo nunca hemos vivido en Europa.

Carla and I have never lived in Europe.

Siempre
Use this tense together with siempre to describe things that you have always done in the past.

Yo siempre he vivido en esta casa.

I have always lived in this house.

David y Ruth siempre han estado contentos en esta ciudad.

David and Ruth have always been happy in this city.

Vosotros siempre habéis comprado en ese supermercado.

You have always bought at that supermarket.

Todavía
Use Pretérito compuesto together with todavía to describe something you haven’t done yet. In this case you need to make a negative sentence.

In negative sentences, no goes before haber. The form of haber (he, has, ha…) and the participle (cantado, comido, vivido) always go together and no word is ever introduced in between.

Todavía no he llamado a mi peluquero.

I haven’t called my stylist yet.

María todavía no ha estado en Nueva York.

María hasn’t been to New York yet.

Ellos no han llegado a casa todavía.

They haven’t arrived home yet.

Pretérito Compuesto in Latin America

The Pretérito compuesto is used less frequently in Latin America. In Spain, it’s used to describe what you have already done with the time expression ya or with time expressions that include vez (alguna vez, una vez, tres veces, muchas veces…) Notice that in Mexico the Pretérito indefinido is used instead.

Ya he terminado el proyecto. (ES)

Ya terminé el proyecto. (MX)

I’ve already finished the project.

¿Alguna vez has cantado en un coro? (ES)

¿Alguna vez cantaste en un coro? (MX)

Have you ever sung in a choir?

Exercises

Now let’s practice the Pretérito compuesto conjugations with the following exercises.

Exercise 1

Exercise 2

Categorized in:

Pretérito CompuestoGrammar