PRESENT PERFECT

El presente perfecto equivale más o menos al pretérito perfecto del español. El "present perfect" es un tiempo que sirve para describir acciones que acaban de suceder en el pasado y que guardan alguna relación con el presente.

Para formar el presente perfecto, se usa el verbo auxiliar "to have" en el presente y el participio pasado del verbo. Para verbos regulares, el participio pasado es la forma simple del pasado.

SUBJECT	AUXILIARY	PAST PARTICIPLE
I	HAVE	WORKED
YOU	HAVE	WORKED
HE	HAS	WORKED
SHE	HAS	WORKED
IT	HAS	WORKED
WE	HAVE	WORKED
YOU	HAVE	WORKED
THEY	HAVE	WORKED

FORMA CONTRAÍDA

SUBJECT	PAST PARTICIPLE
I’VE	WORKED
YOU’VE	WORKED
HE’S	WORKED
SHE’S	WORKED
IT’S	WORKED
WE’VE	WORKED
YOU’VE	WORKED
THEY’VE	WORKED

Nota 1: Ten en cuenta que hay muchos participios pasados irregulares en inglés. En este caso no se le añade -ed como a los verbos regulares, sino que cambia su forma, ejemplo: buy, bought, bought. El participio sería la tercera forma.

Nota 2: Ten en cuenta que para la tercera persona del singular (he, she, it) el verbo have cambia a has.

La forma negativa se forma con la partícula de negación "not" entre el auxiliar y el verbo principal.

SUBJECT	AUXILIARY	NOT	PAST PARTICIPLE
I	HAVE	NOT	WORKED
YOU	HAVE	NOT	WORKED
HE	HAS	NOT	WORKED
SHE	HAS	NOT	WORKED
IT	HAS	NOT	WORKED
WE	HAVE	NOT	WORKED
YOU	HAVE	NOT	WORKED
THEY	HAVE	NOT	WORKED

FORMA CONTRAÍDA

SUBJECT	AUXILIARY	PAST PARTICIPLE
I	HAVEN’T	WORKED
YOU	HAVEN’T	WORKED
HE	HASN’T	WORKED
SHE	HASN’T	WORKED
IT	HASN’T	WORKED
WE	HAVEN’T	WORKED
YOU	HAVEN’T	WORKED
THEY	HAVEN’T	WORKED

La forma interrogativa se construye con el auxiliar al comienzo de la oración, seguido del sujeto y del verbo principal:

AUXILIARY	SUBJECT	PAST PARTICIPLE
HAVE	I	WORKED?
HAVE	YOU	WORKED?
HAS	HE	WORKED?
HAS	SHE	WORKED ¿
HAS	IT	WORKED?
HAVE	WE	WORKED?
HAVE	YOU	WORKED?
HAVE	THEY	WORKED?

RESPUESTAS CORTAS

Yes, I have                                                   Yes, she has

No, I haven’t                                                No, she hasn’t

Uses (Usos)

Se usa el presente perfecto para acciones que ocurrieron en un tiempo no concreto antes de ahora. Por lo tanto, no se suelen usar expresiones de tiempo específicas ("this morning", "yesterday"...). 

En cambio, se puede usar con expresiones de tiempo no concretas ("never", "ever", "many times", "for", "since", "already", "yet"...)

I have bought a car.

Yo he comprado un coche: nos indica que la acción de comprar el coche acaba de realizarse.