El perfecto de presente / Present Perfect

The present perfect, while it sounds like it is going to be about the present, is used to express a completed action using a helping verb "to have". It is sometimes referred to as just the perfect tense, but present perfect is a more precise term. Some examples in English:

• I have been to France.
• She has done the laundry.
• You have been a good student.
  

Now, to form it, you conjugate your helping verb ("haber"), and add the past participle. Here are some examples of verbs conjugated in the present perfect:

venir (to come)
he venido=I have come
has venido=you have come
ha venido=he has come
hemos=we have come
(vosotros habéis venido=you have come)
han venido=they have come

lavarse (to wash oneself)
me he lavado=I have washed myself
te has lavado=you have washed yourself
se ha lavado=he have washed himself
nos hemos lavado=we have washed ourselves
(os habéis lavado=you have washed yourselves)
se han lavado=they have washed themselves

Now what's a past participle? It's the word that usually means ___ed in English. For -ar verbs, you drop the -ar and add -ado (example: pasar goes to pasado). For -ir and -er verbs, you drop the -ir or -er and add -ido (example: perder goes to perdido). For some verbs, the past pasrticiple is irregular, and you just have to memorize them. Here are the most common:

• romper (to break) --> roto (broken)
• volver (to return) --> vuelto (returned)
• abrir (to open) --> abierto (opened)
  
• cubrir (to cover) -- > cubierto (covered)
  
• descubrir (to discover) --> descubierto (discovered)
  
• decir (to say) --> dicho (said)
  
• freír (to fry) --> frito (fried)
  
• morir (to die) --> muerto (died)
  
• poner (to put) --> puesto (put)
  
• ver (to see) --> visto (seen)

Here's how it can be translated:

• I/you/he/she/it/we/they have [verb]ed.

NB: The past participle of many verbs can be used as an adjective, just as in English. For instance "El juguete está roto" means "The toy is broken." Just as with all adjectives, don't forget to make it agree in gender and number!