Reply to a reader's query
Your question could lead to quite involved explanations. I'll try to be brief
and emphasize just the main points. In your example:("...instead of saying
"Ellos salieron", will sometimes say "Ellos han salido." ") you fail to mention
the context. Neither do I know if you speak American or British English. The
following rules about English refer to British English. Your own use of Present
perfect may be different.
Haber + part participle is called "present
perfect" in English and pretérito perfecto (compuesto) in Spanish. Here I will
refer to it as "present perfect" - "PP"
1) With most verbs (such as your
example - salir) present perfect in English corresponds with the Spanish
pretérito perfecto when it refers to single completed actions. A child
says:
"Mum, I've finished (my dinner)" - -Mamá, he terminado (de
cenar).
It must be appreciated that the PP is used here because it refers
to some PRESENT consequence.(This is why we call it PRESENT perfect in English.)
A child says 'I've finished my dinner' for a reason eg.: I want my sweet
(dessert), I want to go and play, etc. When single completed actions refer to a
present consequence, both English and Spanish usually use PP.
Consider:
"They've gone out" - "Han salido" (pres consequence = They're
not here)
"I've seen that film (movie)" - "He visto esa película" (pres
consequence = I don't want to see it again or I know what it's about
etc.)
*"The troops have left the island of Perejil" - "Las tropas han salido
de la isla de Perejil" - Pres consequence = Peace is restored)
The last
example* is a 'news' item and when referring to 'news', both personal statements
(I've passed my exams) and international news (like the above) from a newspaper,
often use PP. However, some Spanish speakers may prefer the
preterite:
"Las tropas salieron de la isla" or "Aprobé mis exámenes"
This is because, In Spanish, the past puts more emphasis or dramatic
feeling into a piece of news. This is especially true of South American Spanish
but not very common in Peninsula Spanish eg.: the famous and very dramatic
declaration on Spanish TV in 1975:
"Franco...ha muerto" ("Franco has
died" or "Franco is dead")
2) It must be remembered that PP is never used
in English if there is some reference, either implicit or explicit, to a PAST
time:
"I went out YESTERDAY" - "Salí ayer"
Spanish usually abides
by this rule too so that "He salido la semana pasada" is not usually considered
good Spanish.
"El martes las tropas salieron de la isla" - "On Tuesday
the troops left the island"
3) This final point may be the most confusing
for English speakers. Consider these examples - all of them refer to some action
that has just occurred:
"Yo no he sido" - "It wasn't me"
"Ha sido él"
- "It was him" (He did it)
The soccer referee gestures 'play on' after a hard
tackle and a spectator at home watching TV shout indignantly: "¡Ha sido
penalty!" - "That was a penalty!"
"Mamá, me ha pegado" - "Mummy, he hit
me"
"¿Quién ha dicho eso? "Yo no he dicho nada" - "Who said that" "I didn't
say anything"
We can see then that when in English we fail to use PP
after a recently occurred action and opt for the past tense (and there is no
reference to a past time adverb), the Spanish often still use the PP (especially
Peninsula Spanish - though I have noted South Americans using the past tense in
these situations.)
There are some more example of the use of PP in my
grammar page on Present Perfect Simple in my Grammar Guide.