Reflexive Verbs I Reflexive Verbs II Preterite I Imperfect I Preterite II Imperfect II II Preterite III Imperfect III Preterite IV Preterite V Preterite VI III Review Unit Seven Formation of Adverbs Subjunctive I: Introduction Subjunctive II: Conjugating regular and stem-changing verbs Subjunctive III: Verbs that change orthographically Subjunctive IV: Irregular verbs Subjunctive V: Desire Subjunctive VI: Ignorance, doubt Pronouns - que Pronouns - quien Pronouns - el que and lo que Adjective - cuyo Pronouns and Adjectives - Review Formal Commands Using Object Pronouns with Commands Commands Review I Informal Commands - vosotros Indirect Commands Future Past Participle Past Perfect Pluperfect Future Perfect Conditional Imperfect Subjunctive I Imperfect Subjunctive II Careful not to confuse this with repeated actions which are habitual, for which the imperfect is more appropriate.
Find out how. Learn Spanish now! Lingvist helps you to gain vocabulary faster and more effectively. Get started now and upgrade your language skills. Try Lingvist for free. English: I have tried to stop smoking several times. The phrases from this post do, however, make your life easier. It is worth testing your use of this tense against the use of the past preterite because they are a common challenge for Spanish students.
I love the visual aid of the graph. Hola Kristin, yes, we have a few articles on the past preterite here and the past imperfect where you can read more about these two tenses. You can search for the articles using the search feature at the top of the website. But I do have a couple of questions.
Is that a gray area at all, or is it always simple past? I also was conversing with a native spanish speaker on Monday, who asked me about my weekend. Is it because the weekend at that point was over? Hola Steph, these are great questions! For example: What did you do on the weekend?
Thanks, Andrew, that is helpful. I do think I have the feel for when to use which tense pretty well now. Totally makes sense. You are a great teacher! Thanks a bunch for this! More specifically, it is used to talk about beginnings and ends, things that took place on specific days or dates, at specific times or during specific time periods, and events in a sequence.
If I did something earlier today that had a specific beginning and end, i. Also, every translation engine I tried used the preterite for that. Hola Caleb, thanks for the question. This one is very country dependent!! I have never drunk alcohol in my life. Ya he desayunado hoy.
I have already eaten breakfast today. If you have to deal with pronouns, remember that pronouns always go before the present perfect, never after it like in English:. Ya les he dicho la verdad. I have already told them the truth. Se los he comprado yo. I have bought them for him. Just like in English, there are some words or expressions that trigger or, at least, like to keep the present perfect company.
Learning these words and expressions is also an easy task, but at FluentU we do not just like things made easy, we want them made amazingly. That is why I have gathered all these words and expressions into a list. We will be covering them in the rest of the post, one by one, each of them including lots of examples.
One word that is almost always present when using the Spanish present perfect is the word hoy. Use hoy when describing all the daily routines you have done during the day, as well as any other action that has taken place since you woke up until now. Bear in mind that this is somewhat different in English, since you would probably use the simple past for this purpose in English, instead of the present perfect.
In Spanish, however, you have to use the present perfect as long as the day is still going on:. Hoy he desayunado cereales con leche. I ate cereal with milk for breakfast today. There was an important meeting at work today.
This is also different in English, where you would use the simple past, but Spanish likes making you learn rules and this is one of them. If, for example, it is nine in the evening and you did something or something happened during the morning or the afternoon, you would just use the appropriate expression:.
It was very cold this morning. Hemos comprado una pizza esta tarde. We bought a pizza this afternoon. When it comes to esta noche, you have to remember that it can have both a past and a future meaning.
It can be set in the future if you plan on doing something later that night, like in this example:. Esta noche iremos al cine. We are going to the cinema tonight. But if it relates to something that has already happened that night, you have to use the present perfect.
He comido mucho esta noche. It have eaten a lot tonight. We have watched three films tonight. If you were to say the same after you woke up the next morning, you would use the preterite and anoche last night instead of esta noche:. We watched three movies last night.
First of all, they have a demonstrative, which is a clear indication that you are going to need the present perfect. Secondly, they are perfect for describing what has happened during the last week, month or even year, as long as that week, month or year has not ended yet!
Have a look:.
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