For some people, present perfect is easier said as a form of past tense. However, it is a little different from your run-of-the-mill past tense. In English, our present perfect goes: "I have" done something. And that's exactly how it works in Spanish too.
In every perfect tense we cover from here on out, we will learn how to conjugate the verb haber in most of the available tense forms. The formula for all perfect tenses is haber + past participle. Haber in this context is an auxiliary verb, or a verb that when combined with other words forms a past tense.The difference between the three perfect tenses is learning how to conjugate this verb. For present perfect, we use the present indicative form of the verb. Below are the conjugations for haber as it relates to present perfect.
Yo: He
Tú: Has
Él, ella, ud.: Ha
Nosotros: Hemos
Vosotros: Habéis
Ellos/ellas, uds.: Han
Be very careful when you are conjugating haber! "He" does NOT mean "He has....". It means "I have". I say this because this was my biggest pitfall in present perfect. Here are some examples of how present perfect works:
Yo he estado bien. ｜I have been well.
Has comido. ｜You have eaten.
Ella le ha amado. ｜She has loved him.
Nosotros hemos caminado allí. ｜We have walked there.
Ellos han tratado. ｜They have tried.
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