4.4.1 Modal verb haber and the perfect participle
In chapter 7.1 we had a glance at the English version of compound tenses with the modal verb to have and the perfect participle. Now have a look at the Spanish version of the same thing. There is the modal verb haber and the perfect participle. As usually in Spanish the formation of the participle depends on the ending of the infinitive verb (-ar, -er or -ir). With the perfect participle there are only a few irregular verbs. The regular verbs are formed as follows:
Formation of the perfect participle in verbs with ending -ar
| infinitive | infinitive | infinitive | infinitive |
| tomar (to take) | tom- | -ado | tomado (taken) |
| hablar (to speak) | habl- | -ado | hablado (spoken) |
| comprar (to buy) | compr- | -ado | comprado (bought) |
Formation of the perfect participle in verbs with ending -er
| infinitive | infinitive | infinitive | infinitive |
| comer (to eat) | com- | -ido | comido (eaten) |
| vender (to sell) | vend- | -ido | vendido (sold) |
| poder (to can) | pod- | -ido | podido (could) |
Formation of the perfect participle in verbs with ending -ir
| infinitive | infinitive | infinitive | infinitive |
| recibir (to receive) | recib- | -ido | recibido (received) |
| recibir (to receive) | conduc- | -ido | conducido (steered) |
| recibir (to receive) | ven- | -ido | venido (come) |
Some verbs are irregular like poner, ver, ser and decir.
Irregular perfect participle
| poner (to put) | puesto | put |
| decir (to say, to tell) | dicho | said, told |
| ver (to see) | visto | seen |
| ser (to be) | sido | been |
Conjugation of haber
| presente | pretérito imperfecto | pretérito indefinido |
| yo he | yo había | yo hube |
| tú has | tú habías | tú hubiste |
| él ha | él había | él hubo |
| nosotros hemos | nosotros habíamos | nosotros hubimos |
| vosotros habéis | vosotros habíais | vosotros hubistéis |
| ellos han | ellos habían | ellos hubieron |
Unfortunately the verb haber itself is quite a irregular one. It changes the stem quite often. Anyway, since it is used so often there is nothing better to do than to learn the forms. Because:
Compound tenses are formed with the respective form of haber and the perfect participle
haber in presente + perfect participle forms pretérito perfecto (he comido)
haber in pretérito imperfecto + perfect participle forms pretérito plusquamperfecto (había comido)
haber in pretérito indefinido + perfect participle forms pretérito anterior (hube comido)
haber in pretérito imperfecto + perfect participle forms pretérito plusquamperfecto (había comido)
haber in pretérito indefinido + perfect participle forms pretérito anterior (hube comido)