Breakdown of Me he graduado, pero todavía no he trabajado.
pero
but
no
no, not
trabajar
to work
haber
(auxiliary) have
todavía
still / yet
graduarse
to graduate
Questions & Answers about Me he graduado, pero todavía no he trabajado.
How do we form the 'have graduated' and 'have worked' parts of this sentence?
We use the present tense of the helper verb haber (here, he for 'I') plus the past participle of the main verbs. Since graduar and trabajar are both -ar verbs, we drop the -ar and add -ado to get graduado and trabajado.
Why is there a me before he graduado?
The Spanish verb for 'to graduate' is graduarse, which uses a reflexive pronoun. In compound tenses like the present perfect, the pronoun (me) must go immediately before the helper verb (haber). You can never put a word between the two parts of the present perfect (he and graduado).
How does the word order for 'not yet' differ from English here?
Why use the present perfect here instead of the simple past tense?
The present perfect connects a past action to the present moment. By saying Me he graduado and no he trabajado, the speaker is focusing on their current life status: they hold a degree right now, and their current situation is that they lack work experience.
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