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To express "having done something" as the subject of a sentence in Spanish we use El Infinitivo Compuesto.
Here are some examples:
Haber estudiado idiomas me ha ayudado mucho en mi carrera profesional.Having studied languages has helped me a lot in my professional career.
Notice how in English the gerund (form using -ing) is used instead.
This structure doesn't always have to be the subject of a sentence; sometimes it acts as a direct object, for example:
Sometimes this structure comes after a preposition:
It could also have pronouns attached to it, for example:
Notice how the pronouns (te, lo, etc.) are attached to "haber". They cannot be placed separately.
This would be incorrect:
Lo haber superado ha sido un gran logro.
Haber superado lo ha sido un gran logro.
However, when we use El Infinitivo Compuesto in the negative in Spanish, the English translation won't be "having done [something]". Have a look at this sentence:
El prisionero declaró no haber robado nada.
The prisoner declared he had not stolen anything [lit: having stolen nothing]
We could also use the more literal structure in Spanish, with the same meaning:
El prisionero declaró que no había robado nada.
The prisoner declared that he had not stolen anything.
For other uses of El Infinitivo Compuesto see also:
- Using Spanish conjunction al + infinitive/perfect infinitive = when doing/ because of doing [something]
- Antes de/Después de followed by haber + participle in Spanish
- Using poder to say could have [done something] in Spanish (modal verbs)
- Spanish modal verb deber in the conditional simple + haber + participle = should have
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