PRESENT PERFECT AND PAST PERFECT

PRESENT PERFECT
En inglés utilizamos el tiempo presente perfecto cuando existe una conexión o relación entre el pasado y el presente. Tiene dos usos principales:

a) Lo utilizamos cuando nos encontramos interesados en el resultado presente de algo que ocurrió en un momento no definido del pasado:

-  The secretary has decided to look for a new job.
   La secretaria ha decidido buscar un nuevo trabajo. 

-  I'm afraid I have forgotten your name.
   Me temo que he olvidado tu nombre.

 

b) Lo utilizamos para hablar acerca de una acción o situación que comenzó en el pasado y aún continúa:

-  How long have you worked here?  
   ¿Cuánto tiempo has trabajado aquí?

-  She has been away on business since last week.
   Ella se ha ausentado por negocios desde la semana pasada.

-  I haven't seen Sylvia for several years.
   No he visto a Silvia durante varios.

Para poder construir la forma afirmativa del Presente Perfecto debemos utilizar como auxiliar el verbo TO HAVE en Presente Simple y acompañado por el verbo principal en su Pasado Participio (ya sean verbos regulares o verbos irregulares):

I have bought a new dress.	Yo he comprado un nuevo vestido.
You have studied the lesson.	Tú has estudiado la lección.
He has broken the window.	Él ha roto la ventana.
She has lost the keys.	Ella ha perdido las llaves.

Recuerden que a las 3º personas del singular deben colocar la "S" en el auxiliar ya que se trata del Presente Simple.
En cambio, para formar una interrogación deberemos colocar el auxiliar al comienzo de la oración, luego el sujeto y posteriormente el verbo principal también en Pasado Participio:

Have I bought a new dress?	He comprado un nuevo vestido?
Have you studied the lesson?	Has estudiado la lección?
Has he broken the window?	Ha roto él la ventana?
Has she lost the keys?	Ha perdido ella las llaves?

Por su parte, la forma negativa se forma poniendo la negación NOT entre el auxiliar y el verbo principal, por ejemplo

I have not bought a new dress.	Yo no he comprado un nuevo vestido.
You have not studied the lesson.	Tú no has estudiado la lección.
He has not broken the window.	Él no ha roto la ventana.
She has not lost the keys.	Ella no ha perdido la llave.

También puede utilizarse la forma contraída de la negación colocando HAVEN'T o HASN'T según corresponda.

Con el presente perfecto utilizamos How long...? (¿Cuánto tiempo...?) en preguntas relacionadas con la duración y for (durante) o since (desde) para las respuestas.

Ejemplo:

-  How long have you worked at OM Personal?
  ¿Cuánto tiempo has trabajado en OM Personal?
 Observa que usamos for para expresar la duración de una acción, y since para indicar cuándo comenzó la acción.

-  I've worked here for twelve months (for twenty years, etc).
   He trabajado aquí durante doce meses (durante veinte años, etc)
 -  I've worked here since January (since 1990, since Christmas, etc).
   He trabajado aquí desde Enero (desde 1990, desde Navidad, etc)

A menudo el presente perfecto se utiliza con algunos adverbios, tales como: yet (aún), already (ya), ever (alguna vez). Observa algunos ejemplos:

-  Sheila hasn't received an answer yet.
   Sheila no ha recibido respuesta aún.

-  Have you ever used this type of machine?
   ¿Has utilizado alguna vez este tipo de máquina?

_ Sheila has already had lunch.

   Sheila ya ha almorzado

LISTA DE VERBOS IRREGULARES EN INGLÉS

Infinitive	Simple Past	Past Participle	Spanish
arise	arose	arisen	surgir
be	was / were	been	ser
beat	beat	beaten	golpear
become	became	become	convertirse
begin	began	begun	comenzar
bet	bet/betted	bet/betted	apostar
bite	bit	bitten	morder
bleed	bled	bled	sangrar
blow	blew	blown	soplar
break	broke	broken	romper
bring	brought	brought	traer
build	built	built	construir
buy	bought	bought	comprar
catch	caught	caught	atrapar
choose	chose	chosen	elegir
come	came	come	venir
cost	cost	cost	costar
creep	crept	crept	arrastrarse
cut	cut	cut	cortar
deal	dealt	dealt	dar, repartir
do	did	done	hacer
draw	drew	drawn	dibujar
dream	dreamt/dreamed	dreamt/dreamed	soñar
drink	drank	drunk	beber
drive	drove	driven	conducir
eat	ate	eaten	comer
fall	fell	fallen	caer
feed	fed	fed	alimentar
feel	felt	felt	sentir
fight	fought	fought	pelear
find	found	found	encontrar
flee	fled	fled	huir
fly	flew	flown	volar
forget	forgot	forgotten	olvidar
forgive	forgave	forgiven	perdonar
forsake	forsook	forsaken	abandonar
freeze	froze	frozen	congelar
get	got	got	tener, obtener
give	gave	given	dar
Infinitive	Simple Past	Past Participle	Spanish
grind	ground	ground	moler
grow	grew	grown	crecer
hang	hung	hung	colgar
have	had	had	tener
hear	heard	heard	oír
hide	hid	hidden	esconderse
hit	hit	hit	golpear
hold	held	held	tener, mantener
hurt	hurt	hurt	herir, doler
keep	kept	kept	guardar
kneel	knelt	knelt	arrodillarse
know	knew	known	saber
lead	led	led	encabezar
learn	learnt/learned	learnt/learned	aprender
leave	left	left	dejar
lend	lent	lent	prestar
let	let	let	dejar
lie	lay	lain	yacer
lose	lost	lost	perder
make	made	made	hacer
mean	meant	meant	significar
meet	met	met	conocer, encontrar
pay	paid	paid	pagar
put	put	put	poner
quit	quit/quitted	quit/quitted	abandonar
read	read	read	leer
ride	rode	ridden	montar, ir
ring	rang	rung	llamar por teléfono
rise	rose	risen	elevar
run	ran	run	correr
say	said	said	decir
see	saw	seen	ver
sell	sold	sold	vender
send	sent	sent	enviar
set	set	set	fijar
sew	sewed	sewn/sewed	coser
shake	shook	shaken	sacudir
shine	shone	shone	brillar
shoot	shot	shot	disparar
show	showed	shown/showed	mostrar
shrink	shrank/shrunk	shrunk	encoger
Infinitive	Simple Past	Past Participle	Spanish
sing	sang	sung	cantar
sink	sank	sunk	hundir
sit	sat	sat	sentarse
sleep	slept	slept	dormir
slide	slid	slid	deslizar
sow	sowed	sown/sowed	sembrar
speak	spoke	spoken	hablar
spell	spelt/spelled	spelt/spelled	deletrear
spend	spent	spent	gastar
spill	spilt/spilled	spilt/spilled	derramar
split	split	split	partir
spoil	spoilt/spoiled	spoilt/spoiled	estropear
spread	spread	spread	extenderse
stand	stood	stood	estar de pie
steal	stole	stolen	robar
sting	stung	stung	picar
stink	stank/stunk	stunk	apestar
strike	struck	struck	golpear
swear	swore	sworn	jurar
sweep	swept	swept	barrer
swim	swam	swum	nadar
take	took	taken	tomar
teach	taught	taught	enseñar
tear	tore	torn	romper
tell	told	told	decir
think	thought	thought	pensar
throw	threw	thrown	lanzar
tread	trode	trodden/trod	pisar
understand	understood	understood	entender
wake	woke	woken	despertarse
wear	wore	worn	llevar puesto
weave	wove	woven	tejer
weep	wept	wept	llorar
win	won	won	ganar
wring	wrung	wrung	retorcer
write	wrote	written	escribir

Pasado Perfecto (Past Perfect Tense)

El Pasado Perfecto en el idioma inglés es un tiempo verbal que se utiliza para referirnos a una acción que tuvo lugar en un momento anterior a otra acción, aunque ambas hayan sucedido en el pasado estableciendo un orden entre ellas, por ejemplo:

The film had finished when she arrived at the cinema.
La película había terminado cuando ella llegó al cine.
(Primera acción: la película había terminado
Segunda acción: ella llegó al cine)

Sarah had prepared dinner when her husband got home.
Sarah había preparado la cena cuando su esposo llegó a casa.
(Primera acción: Sarah había preparado la cena
Segunda acción: su esposo llegó a casa)

Para poder construir la forma afirmativa del Pasado Perfecto debemos utilizar como auxiliar el verbo TO HAVE en Pasado Simple y acompañado por el verbo principal en su Pasado Participio (ya sean verbos regulares o verbos irregulares):

I had bought a new car.	Yo había comprado un nuevo auto.
You had cleaned the house.	Tú habías limpiado la casa.
She had lost the credit card.	Ella había perdido la tarjeta de crédito.

Para formar una interrogación deberemos colocar el auxiliar al comienzo de la oración, luego el sujeto y posteriormente el verbo principal también en Pasado Participio:

Had I bought a new car?	Había comprado yo un nuevo auto?
Had you cleaned the house?	Habías limpiado tú la casa?
Had he brought the gifts?	Había traído él los regalos?
Had she lost the credit card?	Había perdido ella la tarjeta de crédito?

Por su parte, la forma negativa se construye poniendo la negación NOT entre el auxiliar y el verbo principal, por ejemplo:

I had not bought a new dress.	Yo no había comprado un nuevo vestido.
You had not cleaned the house.	Tú no habías limpiado la casa.
He had not brought the gifts.	Él no había traído los regalos.

También puede utilizarse la forma contraída de la negación colocando HADN'T en vez de HAD NOT.

EXERCISES

1.-Circle all the verbs in Past Simple and underline the Present Perfect verbs.

Andrea Silva, the Hollywood actress, has made over 25 films in her career. She started acting at the age of fourteen. She has travelled to many parts of the world, including Australia, South America, and China. I spoke to her last week and she said that her favorite place was Argentina. She has won three Oscars. She won her first Oscar in 1987 for her role as the scientist, Kay Brown, in Texas Flower.

2.-Put the verbs in brackets in the correct tense. Present Simple, Present Perfect or Past Simple.

Christina Aguilera ______ (to be) a famous bilingual singer. She ____________ (receive) many honors including 6 Grammy Nominations. In fact, she ___________ (win) a Grammy for best new female artist I 2001. Since then she _____________ (make) millions of fans and ____________ (win) many awards.

3.-Read the story and underline the Past Perfect verbs. Make an interpretation in Spanish.

Marsha and Felix got married one Saturday in June. They had met only one week earlier at a party and had fallen passionately in love. Marsha rang and told her parents her news after the wedding, when Felix had moved into her flat. They were surprise and angry. Unfortunately, after a few months, their married started to go wrong. Felix had met another woman….

PRESENT PERFECT (TRIPLE A EXERCISE)

1.    Put the verbs in brackets in the correct tense, Present Perfect or Past Simple.

Barbara Lively, the writer, is married with two children. She _____________ (write) over 40 books.  She _____________ (start) writing after the death of her first husband. She _______________ (live) in many parts of the world, including Japan and India.

She _________________ (spend) her childhood in Egypt, but ___________

(come) to England in 1966.

She _______________ (write) both prose and poetry, but is best known for her romantic novels. She _______________ (win) many awards, including the Booker Prize, which she ____________ (win) in 1988 for the novel Dark Times to Come.