THE PAST IN SPANISH - Perfect Tense (1-4)

Hi, I'm Leesh, your Spanish teacher.

How was your day? I hope that you are very good.

In this short series, we will study the different forms of past tense in Spanish.

Let's get started!

In Spanish there are four ways to refer to the past:

1. Perfect tense

1. This week I have visited my friends a few times.

2. Simple Past or Indefinite

1. Last week I did not visit my friends.

3. Past imperfect

1. I visited my friends very often before the pandemic.

4. Past Past Perfect

1. I had visited my friends when they said they needed to see me again. What will they want?

In this article, we will study the first one, "Past Perfect."

We use this form in Spanish to express actions from the past, but the time this action occurred is still in the present (and probably in the future).

Timeline

(This week)

💃💃💃💃 Action 👇 Present tense

_________________________________________________________________________

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Friday… →

This week I have gone dancing with my friends.

Conjugation of the Present Perfect

To conjugate this past form, we need the verb to have in the present:

TO HAVE

I have

You have

He / She / You have

We have

They / They / You have

It's very important to know that Haber (to have in English) is used as an auxiliary verb, Tener is to have as well, but with this verb we express possession, for example, Tengo un carro → I have a car, Tengo muchos amigos → I have many friends. 

But that's not all, we need something else, we need what in the grammar of the Spanish language we call the past participle:

All (regular) verbs that end in:

AR change to ADO

Caminar → caminado → Walked

ER change to IDO

Comer → comido → eaten

IR change to IDO

Vivir → vivido → lived

HAVE + past participle

He caminado I have walked

Has caminado You have walked

Él/ella/usted ha caminado He / She / You (formal) have walked

Nosotros hemos caminado We have walked

Ellos/ellas/ustedes han caminado They / They / You have walked

We only need to get the participle of the verb, the verb haber is constant.

These are the most common irregular participles:

Estos son los participios irregulares más comunes: 

• Abrir → abierto (Open → open)

• Poner → puesto (Put → put)

• Ver → visto (See → seen)

• Volver → vuelto (Come back - came back)

• Hacer → hecho (Do - done)

• Decir → dicho (Say - said)

• Escribir → escrito (Write - written)

• Freír → frito/freído (doble participio, ambos son correctos) (Fry → fried / fried (double participle, both are correct))

• Morir → muerto (Die → dead)

• Imprimir → impreso/imprimido (doble participio, ambos son correctos) (Print → printed / printed (double participle, both are correct))

Rules and examples

1. If we say something and do not specify the time of the action, being in a period that may be longer than the present:

1. Esta semana he estado muy ocupado. This week I have been very busy. → In this example we are talking about the time, we say this week, but we are not specifying the day, also the week continues, it has not ended.

2. Hoy he ido a la playa. Today I went to the beach. → We are talking about the time, but we are not specifying the time of the action.

2. When we talk about an action in the past but we do not necessarily say a general time (not a specific one):

1. He tomado varios cursos de cocina. I have taken several cooking courses. → We say what we have done, but we do not say the time.

2. He visitado Tikal varias veces. I have visited Tikal several times. → We say what, but we don't say anything about the time, we don't say when this action happened.

3. Uses of the word ya:

1. Ya he aprendido a tocar el piano. I have already learned to play the piano. → We are talking about an action in the past (we do not need to specify the time), it indicates the end of the action, the end of the process, ya here means, I know now how to do something.

2. Ya he terminado de grabar otro episodio para el podcast. I have already finished recording another episode for the podcast. → The end of the process, not to mention when specifically it happened, it means, we have now the audio, we already finished it.

4. Uses of the words not yet:

1. Todavía no he viajado a Europa. I have not yet traveled to Europe. → We are talking about the process of an action that has not ended, the time for this action continues into the future.

2. Todavía no he probado muchos quesos ¡Me gustan los quesos! I haven't tried many kinds of cheese yet. I like cheeses! → We indicate something that may happen today, tomorrow, or next year, the process for doing this action has not ended, it continues in the future.

Well, friends, these are the main rules of the Past Perfect, we have to remember that the time for the Past Perfect begins in the time of the action, it can continue in the present and this time can extend into the future, it is a very general, not specific, we do not say exactly these actions happen. This is a general idea for using the Past Perfect.

If you have questions, write to me for more examples. Soon we will be having another article about Past Tense.

Happy day and take care!

leeshsojven@gmail.com

https://leeshsojven.wixsite.com/online