Breakdown of ¿Ha firmado el gerente el contrato hoy?
hoy
today
firmar
to sign
haber
to have (auxiliary)
el gerente
the manager
Questions & Answers about ¿Ha firmado el gerente el contrato hoy?
Why do we use "ha firmado" here instead of the simple past?
Because of the word hoy (today). In Spain, when an action happens in a time period that isn't finished yet (like today, this week, or this year), you use the present perfect (ha firmado) rather than the simple past (firmó).
Why is the subject "el gerente" placed after the verb?
Could I put the subject in the middle of the verb, like "¿Ha el gerente firmado..."?
No, that is a common mistake for English speakers! In Spanish, you can never separate the two parts of a perfect tense. The helper verb (ha) and the past participle (firmado) must always stay glued together.