English · B1 · verb · 5 minutes
Speak: present perfect
Use have/has spoken for communication whose experience or result matters now.
Understand the choice
Have spoken can report a useful completed conversation, repeated contact, or language experience. A finished date normally shifts the sentence to spoke.
Core rule: Speak forms spoke in past simple and spoken as participle; speak to/with a person and about/on a subject.
Notice it in context
We have spoken to the landlord, and a repair is scheduled.
Hemos hablado con el casero y hay una reparación programada.
Have spoken supplies current relevance; to names the conversation partner; scheduled describes the result.
She has spoken at three conferences this year.
Three conference talks belong to the current year so far.
At marks event; this year is treated as unfinished.
Have you ever spoken in public?
Is public speaking part of your life experience?
Ever asks about experience at any time until now.
What to remember
- Spoken English means language as used orally; it is not a simple past clause.
- Say focuses words/content; speak often focuses the act, language, or formal address.
Common trap: Do not use have spoke; spoke is past simple and spoken is the participle.