Spanish past tense help needed please!

Okay, so I'm in Year 13 and have been self-teaching Spanish. I'm doing a GCSE in it next month. I haven't really been studying the tenses too much, and have just realised I haven't quite understood the past tense yet. I'm fine with the imperfect, but not too sure on the perfect and preterite in particular.

Is the perfect just used in the same sense as it is in French? So 'I practised' is 'He praticado' etc? What is the preterite used for, and could someone give a few examples and explain them to me?

Muchas gracias! :smile:

Reply 1

rapha

2

When you want to use the simple past tense (e.g. I practised) you have to change the ending of the verb.
I ate = Comí.
For regular verbs the general rule is when writing in the first person (I) to change the ending of the verb in the infinitive to é when ending in AR (e.g. hablar) or to í when ending in ER or IR (beber, vivir).

For the present perfect (e.g. I have eaten) you normally change the ending of the verb in the infinitive to ado when finishing in ARor to idowhen finsihing in ER or IR.

E.G. I have practised = He practicado (from practicar)
I have drunk = He bebido (from beber).

There are also the irregular verbs which you have to memorise.

I hope that helps, good luck. :wink:

Reply 2

city_chic

OP

13

rapha

When you want to use the simple past tense (e.g. I practised) you have to change the ending of the verb.
I ate = Comí.
For regular verbs the general rule is when writing in the first person (I) to change the ending of the verb in the infinitive to é when ending in AR (e.g. hablar) or to í when ending in ER or IR (beber, vivir).

For the present perfect (e.g. I have eaten) you normally change the ending of the verb in the infinitive to ado when finishing in ARor to idowhen finsihing in ER or IR.

E.G. I have practised = He practicado (from practicar)
I have drunk = He bebido (from beber).

There are also the irregular verbs which you have to memorise.

I hope that helps, good luck. :wink:

Thank you very much :smile:

I'm still a little confused about when to use the preterite instead of the perfect etc. For example, do 'comí' and 'he comido' mean the same thing? What's the distinction? 'I ate' and 'I have eaten' really mean the same thing don't they? (or at least in French the perfect is used for both).

Edit: I realise that sounds a little silly actually. I suppose if someone asked you about an action further away in the past, like 'what did you eat last week?' you'd answer with 'comí' and if someone asked you a question about a more recent action, like 'what have you eaten today?' you'd answer with 'he comido?'

Reply 3

rip9

I would say that perfect is used for the recent past (like for events that happened 1 or 2 days ago) whilst the preterite is for events further back in time. (-_-'!)

So for events a week ago, preterito es su amigo!

Reply 4

city_chic

OP

13

rip9

I would say that perfect is used for the recent past (like for events that happened 1 or 2 days ago) whilst the preterite is for events further back in time. (-_-'!)

So for events a week ago, preterito es su amigo!

También, gracias :smile:

Reply 5

Zoedotdot

18

rip9

I would say that perfect is used for the recent past (like for events that happened 1 or 2 days ago) whilst the preterite is for events further back in time. (-_-'!)

So for events a week ago, preterito es su amigo!

Not only that, but the preterite is specifically for one-off, completed actions. "I have eaten" has an implication of 'so far' - por ejemplo: "he comido las salchichas pero todavía tengo hambre" (I have eaten the sausages but I'm still hungry), whereas "comí las salchichas ayer y estaban ricas" (I ate the sausages yesterday and they were yummy). That could just be a personal preference though, I'll have a quick check in my grammar book and get back to you.

Edit: Grammar book says:

The preterite tense is used to describe a single, completed action in the past or an action that took place over a defined period of time, however long.

Examples:

Ayer compré un abrigo nuevo.
Yesterday I bought a new coat.

Pasé dos an~os trabajando en Malaga.
I spent two years working in Malaga.

The perfect tense is used in most cases as in English to say what has happened, what someone has done in the recent past.

Examples:

Qué has hecho hoy?
What have you done today?

Has ido al futbol?
Have you been to the football?

The perfect tense is not used in the sense of "How long has someone been doing something?" The present tense is used instead.

Phew, hope that's helpful :smile:

Back to History essays now!

Reply 6

t_ucd

The perfect in Spanish is used in much the same as the perfect in English, eg "He visitado Madrid tres veces" - I have visited it three times so far and I could visit it again. Whereas if you wanted to say something like "When I lived in Barcelona I visited Madrid three times", it would be "Cuando viví en Barcelona, visité Madrid tres veces" because that period of time (when you lived in Barcelona) is now over.

The only difference that I can see between the English and Spanish usage of the perfect is that they also use it for "today", eg "Hoy he ido al cine", whereas in English you'd say "today I went to the cinema".

The preterite is used in pretty much the same way as in English - for any completed action.

Hope that helps rather than confuses you!

Reply 7

city_chic

OP

13

Thank you both! That's definitely cleared a lot of it up for me :smile:

In Spanish could you still say 'Hoy fui al cine?' or would the perfect always be used with no exception?

Reply 8

t_ucd

You could actually - in South America they would say "Hoy fui al cine" while in Spain they'd say "Hoy he ido al cine". I didn't want to add that in my last post because I thought it looked confusing enough already!

Reply 9

Zoedotdot

18

t_ucd

You could actually - in South America they would say "Hoy fui al cine" while in Spain they'd say "Hoy he ido al cine". I didn't want to add that in my last post because I thought it looked confusing enough already!

And that's something I didn't know either. Thank you for that :smile:

Learn something new everyday!

Reply 10

t_ucd

No prob! Thanks for the rep btw. :biggrin:

Reply 11

Llamaaa

15

In south america they'd never say "hoy he ido..." and it's not that common in Spain either, in my experience (3 spanish exchanges, lessons from a native speaker years 8-13 and so forth). It's one of those things you can say, but you wouldn't really use. I could well be wrong though. My Spanish these days is strictly south american :biggrin:

Reply 12

city_chic

OP

13

Llamaaa

In south america they'd never say "hoy he ido..." and it's not that common in Spain either, in my experience (3 spanish exchanges, lessons from a native speaker years 8-13 and so forth). It's one of those things you can say, but you wouldn't really use. I could well be wrong though. My Spanish these days is strictly south american :biggrin: