The present work offers an overview of the state of the art of the Preterit hice (“I made) and the Present Perfect he hecho (" I have made) in different Spanish varieties. It summarizes the results of synchronic studies carried out in Spain, the Canary Islands and America, and it also discusses the prototypical and the innovative uses of the Present Perfect that mark its advance in its grammaticalization process. For the purpose of explanation, Preterit and Present Perfect frequencies of occurrence obtained from sociolinguistic studies are compared so that tendencies in the selection of one or another category can be identified. In sum, this article seeks to contribute in a comprehensive manner to the knowledge of the current distribution of these verb categories by means of the identification of the present perfect values that coincide and differ among the Spanish varieties, and to suggest aspects that should be considered in future research.