Using tener + past participle to express the completion of an action (perífrasis verbal)

In Spanish there are different ways to express a completed action. We can use the verb tener with this purpose too.

Learn about accumulated actions with tener + past participle in Spanish

In Spanish we can use the verb tener followed by a past participle to express the completion of an action. The effect of using this verbal structure is similar to using haber + participle, however using tener gives a nuance of a result obtained after accumulation or repetition of actions.

Let's see some examples:

Notice how the past participle must agree in gender and number with the noun acting as a direct object. (escritas/páginas; pintadas/habitaciones: feminine plural noun)

Here are some more examples:

In all of the above sentences there is a nuance of an accumulation or repetition of actions to get to a result.

For example:

implies that there is a repetition of an action, in this case, painting rooms, one after another, with a result expressed with "tengo pintadas dos habitaciones".

implies that there has been an accumulation of "thinking" with a result expressed with "tienes pensada".

If we simply used the perfect tense with haber, this nuance wouldn't exist. It would just express a completed action.

Bear in mind that the object can be expressed with an infinitive; in this case, the past participle is singular as if it was a singular noun:

Sometimes this verbal structure implies an indication of keeping someone in a certain state (sometimes as a result following an accumulation/repetition of events). For example:

Notice how in all the examples there is a direct object pronoun (me, nos, la) because it is always about the effect on "someone".

 

 

There is a very similar structure conveying the same meaning. See Using llevar + past participle to express the completion of an action so far (perífrasis verbal)