How do I generate the perfect tense in Spanish?

The perfect tense (eg. to have done something) in Spanish functions exactly as it does in English. We take the verb haber, which works like 'to have' in English and conjugate it:(yo) he(tú) has(él/ella/usted) ha(nosotros/as) hemos(vosotros/as) habéis(ellos/ellas/ustedes) hanSecondly, we add the 'past participle' of the verb we want to say in the perfect tense. For '-ar' verbs, such as cantar and mirar, we remove the '-ar' ending and add '-ado'. Cantar would become 'cantado' and mirar 'mirado'. For '-er' and '-ir' verbs, remove these endings and add '-ido', so comer becomes 'comido' and dormir becomes 'dormido'.Some examples would include: I have closed = he cerradoWe have woken up = nos hemos despertado (with reflexive verbs like despertarse, the reflexive pronoun, in this case 'nos', always comes first)They have ironed = han planchadoHowever, there are some irregular past participles that must simply be memorised, notably:abierto abrir openedabsuelto absolver absolvedcubierto cubrir covereddicho decir said/toldescrito escribir writtenfrito freír friedhecho hacer made/doneimpreso imprimir printedmuerto morir diedpuesto poner putresuelto resolver resolvedroto romper brokensatisfecho satisfacer satisfiedvisto ver seenvuelto volver returned

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Answered by Chris C. Spanish tutor

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Translate the following passage: I like to go on holiday to Spain. It is always sunny and our favourite hotel has a big swimming pool. Last summer we went to Madrid and I saw a concert in the bull-ring. I am going to study Spanish in the future.


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