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Question

¿Cómo lo puede que "El Pretérito Perfecto" significa "(present perfect)"?
Este es el título del uno de mis lecciones bajo de sujeto, ¨Conjugate ver in El Pretérito Perfecto (present perfect)".

He lo tratado pero, me parece que es muy difícil a preguntar una pregunta en el forum en una moda que consigue para mi una respuesta.

Gracias, Jaime

Answer

Hola Jaime,In Spanish this perfect tense formed by verb haber in the present and the past participle of the main verb , e.g. have seen/ he visto, is called El Pretérito Perfecto or El Pretérito Perfecto compuesto. In Spanish, the name of the tense doesn't contain the word "present". In English though it does. One of the theories, as far as I know, is that this tense refers to a past but also linked somehow with the present. For example:"She has lived in Manchester for 6 years."Using the present perfect here means that she is "still" living in Manchester, so there is a connection to the present time. This is probably why in English grammar its name is "Present Perfect".Un saludo,Inma