In short

The pretérito perfeito composto looks exactly like the English present perfect - tenho feito is word-for-word “I have done” - and that is precisely the trap. In European Portuguese it does not mean “I have done (once, and now it’s finished)”. It means an action that has been repeating or going on from a past point right up to now, and typically still continues: Ultimamente tenho dormido mal = “Lately I have been sleeping badly (and still am)”. For a single finished action - even a recent one, even one English would put in the present perfect - EP uses the pretérito perfeito simples of Lessons 20-21: Já comi (“I’ve eaten”), not tenho comido. This lesson fixes that contrast, and then adds a second set of aspectual periphrases (following on from Lesson 9) that pin down how an action unfolds: still going, done again, given up, about to start.

The rule

Building it: present of ter + participle

Same machinery as the mais-que-perfeito of Lesson 25, but with ter in the present instead of the imperfeito:

present of ter (tenho, tens, tem, temos, têm) + past participle (Lesson 24).

• Eu tenho trabalhado muito. - I have been working a lot.
• Eles têm feito progressos. - They have been making progress.

As always after ter, the participle is invariable - the frozen -o form, never agreeing: Elas têm chegado tarde (not chegadas). Watch the auxiliary’s spelling: tem (he/she) versus têm (they), with the circumflex marking the plural.

What it actually means in EP

The perfeito composto covers a span that starts in the past and reaches the present, with a sense of repetition or continuity:

• Nos últimos meses, tem chovido muito. - In recent months it has been raining a lot.
• A Ana tem estudado todos os dias. - Ana has been studying every day.

The action is not presented as closed; it is still true, still recurring, or expected to go on. Think “have been -ing” or “have kept -ing”, not a one-off “have done”.

The trap: a finished action is the perfeito simples, not this

This is the mistake English speakers make daily. When you mean a single, completed past action - however recent, and even where English uses “have” - reach for the pretérito perfeito simples:

• “I have already eaten.” -> Já comi. (not tenho comido)
• “She has arrived.” -> Ela chegou / Ela já chegou. (not tem chegado)
• “Have you ever been to Porto?” -> Já foste ao Porto? / Alguma vez estiveste no Porto? (perfeito simples)
• “I have just finished.” -> Acabei de terminar. (acabar de + infinitive, Lesson 9)

Say Tenho comido only if you mean “I have been eating (regularly, lately)”. Já comi is “I’ve eaten (it’s done)”.

Time expressions that call for it

The perfeito composto lives with open, up-to-now spans: ultimamente (lately), nos últimos dias / meses / tempos (in recent days/months), cada vez mais (more and more), até agora (so far). A bounded past time - ontem, em 2010, na semana passada - blocks it and forces the perfeito simples: ontem trabalhei (not tenho trabalhado).

Aspectual periphrases II

Lesson 9 gave you estar a + infinitivo, costumar, começar a and acabar de. Here is the next set - each is a verb locked to a preposition (Lesson 42), followed by the infinitive. They let you say precisely how an action stands:

• andar a + inf - be busy doing (habitually, these days): Ando a aprender guitarra. Overlaps closely with the perfeito composto.
• continuar a + inf - still be doing: Continua a chover. (“It’s still raining.”)
• deixar de + inf - stop / give up doing: Deixei de fumar. (Beware: deixar + infinitive without de means “let/allow”.)
• voltar a + inf - do again: Voltei a ligar mais tarde. (“I called again later.”)
• acabar por + inf - end up doing: Acabei por concordar. (“I ended up agreeing.”)
• estar prestes a + inf - be about to: Estou prestes a sair.

Forms & patterns

The perfeito composto in full (model verb fazer):

Contrast of meaning - the two tenses that share “have + participle” in English:

Aspectual periphrases II at a glance:

Examples

Common mistakes

• Tenho comido meaning “I have (just) eaten” -> Já comi / Acabei de comer - a single finished action is the perfeito simples (or acabar de), never the perfeito composto.
• Já tens estado em Lisboa? (for “have you ever been?”) -> Já estiveste em Lisboa? - “ever / in your life” questions take the perfeito simples, not the composto.
• Tenho trabalhado ontem. -> Trabalhei ontem. - a bounded past time (ontem) forbids the composto; use the simple past.
• Elas têm chegadas tarde. -> Elas têm chegado tarde. - after ter the participle is invariable (Lesson 25); it never agrees.
• Eles tem feito muito. -> Eles têm feito muito. - the third-person plural auxiliary is têm, with a circumflex, distinct from singular tem.
• Ando estudar português. -> Ando a estudar português. - the periphrasis needs the linking a before the infinitive.
• Deixei fumar. (meaning “I quit smoking”) -> Deixei de fumar. - “stop doing” is deixar de + infinitive; deixar + infinitive alone means “let/allow”.

Tips

• One rule solves most cases: use tenho feito only for “have been doing (lately) and still”; for anything finished, use the perfeito simples - já fiz, fiz ontem, acabei de fazer.
• Its natural companions are ultimamente, nos últimos dias/tempos, cada vez mais, até agora - open spans that touch the present. A closed time word cancels it.
• The participle after ter never changes (Lesson 25): temos escrito, têm dito, tens visto.
• Mind the spelling of the auxiliary out loud and on paper: tem (one person) vs têm (several).
• andar a + infinitivo says the same “these days” idea - ando a fazer ginástica sits right next to tenho feito ginástica.
• Treat the periphrases as fixed verb + preposition frames (Lesson 42): continuar a, deixar de, voltar a, acabar por.
• In Brazil: the perfeito composto carries the same durative/iterative meaning, and both norms say já cheguei (never tenho chegado) for “I have arrived”; the composto is not the everyday present perfect it looks like.