Patio de uso común
Capítulo 5 A manera de cierre
The Spanish preterite perfect tense, like the present perfect tense in English, is used to express action that has been recently completed.
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ENGLISH PATTERNS subject “have/has just” past participle
subject “just” past tense
SPANISH PATTERN (subject) present tense of haber participle
He hablado con Juan. rwI have just talked to Juan. qI just talked to Juan.
Hemos comido. rwWe have just eaten. qWe just ate.
Mi perro ha muerto. rwMy dog has just died. qMy dog just died.
Sus amigos han llegado. rwYour friends have just arrived. qYour friends just arrived.
This usage is more common in Spain than in Latin America, where the present tense of acabar de infinitive is more often used for this purpose (see pages 119–120).
In English, the word “just” is important in conveying the sense of re- cent action. In Spanish, an equivalent word is not necessary. Also note that in American English, it is common to use the past tense for this purpose.
Expressing Time of Action
In Spanish, the time of a recent action is often stated with the preterite perfect tense. In English, time is stated with the past tense—never with the present perfect tense.
He hablado con Juan a las tres. I talked to Juan at three o’clock.
Hemos comido en la tarde. We ate in the afternoon.
Mi perro ha muerto anoche. My dog died last night.
Sus amigos han llegado hace Your friends arrived a short time
poco. ago.
AVOID THE
When translating from Spanish to English, do not use the present perfect if the time of action is stated. Use the past tense instead.
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My dog has died last night.✗
Your friends have arrived a few minutes ago.Expressing “Already” and “Not Yet”
The Spanish preterite perfect tense, like the English present perfect tense, is used to express action that has already occurred or that has not
yet occurred. Note that the markers ya and todavía are necessary to convey this meaning in Spanish, but “already” and “yet” are optional in conveying this meaning in English.
Ya he hablado con Juan. I’ve (already) talked to Juan.
Ya hemos comido. We have (already) eaten.
No he escrito el trabajo todavía. I haven’t written the paper (yet).
Mis amigos no han llegado todavía. My friends haven’t arrived (yet).
AVOID THE
If you expect or hope that the action will occur, you must include the marker todavía.
Don’t omit todavía if you plan to write the paper.
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No he escrito el trabajo.Don’t omit todavía if you expect your friends to arrive.
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No han llegado mis amigos.Expressing the Frequency of an Action
The Spanish preterite perfect tense, like the English present perfect tense, is used to express the number of times an action has been performed.
He hablado dos veces con Juan. I have talked to Juan twice.
Hemos comido muchas veces We have eaten at this place many
en este lugar. times.
Unlike the English present perfect tense, the Spanish preterite perfect tense is not used to express activity that is occurring now for the first, second, third, etc. time (see page 117).
ENGLISH PATTERN “the first time (that)” subject “have/has”
past participle
SPANISH PATTERN la primera vez que (subject) present tense
Esta es la primera vez que This is the first time we have eaten
comemos en este lugar. at this place.
AVOID THE
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Esta es la primera vez que hemos comido en este lugar.✗
Es la segunda vez que he estado en este país.Blunder
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The Spanish preterite perfect tense, unlike the English present perfect tense, is not used to express how long an activity has been taking place.
ENGLISH PATTERN subject “have/has” “been ing” SPANISH PATTERNS (subject) present tense
(subject) present progressive tense
Hace diez minutos que hablo con Juan.
i
I’ve been talking to Juan
Hace diez minutos que estoy hablando
y
for 10 minutes.
con Juan.
t
Hace seis meses que estoy en este país. I’ve been in this country for six months.
AVOID THE
Don’t use the preterite perfect tense unless you mean that the action is completed: “I talked to John for 10 minutes.”
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He estado hablando con Juan por diez minutos.Exercises
A Change the verbs in the following sentences to the preterite perfect tense as an alternative to acabar de.EXAMPLE Acabamos de ver esa película. Hemos visto esa película. 1. Mis padres acaban de comer.
2. ¿Qué acabas de hacer?
3. Acabo de terminar con mis exámenes. 4. Ana acaba de recibir un mensaje.
B Express the following in Spanish.1. They just arrived.
2. We have already written the letters. 3. He hasn’t sent his application yet. 4. She opened the window a few minutes ago.
5. How many times have you all seen that movie?
Tense Formation
Stem (infinitive minus -ar/-er/-ir) endings
Pattern 1 Verbs
Tense Endings -ar VERBS
yo -é nosotros(-as) -amos
tú -aste vosotros(-as) -asteis
usted/él/ella -ó ustedes/ellos/ellas -aron -er AND -ir VERBS
yo -í nosotros(-as) -imos
tú -iste vosotros(-as) -isteis
usted/él/ella -ió ustedes/ellos/ellas -ieron
Spelling Changes in yo Forms Verbs that end in -car -qué
Verbs that end in -gar -gué Verbs that end in -guar -güé Verbs that end in -zar -cé