👉Spanish Past Perfect Tense: How and When use it?
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I. Formation of the past perfect
Spanish has only one auxiliary, the verb HABER. The past tense (pretérito perfecto) is formed as follows:
Auxiliary HABER conjugated in the present tense + past participle
1. Conjugation of the auxiliary HABER
– Yo he
РT̼ has
– Él/Ella/Usted ha
– Nosotros hemos
РVosotros hab̩is
– Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes han
2. Formation of the past participle
* Past participle formation of verbs with an ending in -AR ==> -ADO
Example :
Hablar ==> Hablado ; Caminar ==> Caminado ; etc.
* Formation of the past participle of verbs with an ending in -ER or -IR ==> -IDO
Example :
Comer ==> Comido ; Vivir ==> Vivido ; etc.
* There are irregular verbs for past participle formation.
Example :
Hacer ==> Hecho ; Escribir ==> Escrito ; Abrir ==> Abierto ; Decir ==> Dicho ; Ser ==> Sido; etc.
N.B:
– The past participle is always invariable when used with HABER.
– The auxiliary and the past participle should never be separated.
II. Use of the Past Perfect
In Spanish, the past compound tense is used to express an action begun in the past that continues into the present, or that is not yet finished.
The past tense is also used when the action is completed but its consequences on the present are still real.
In this case, we can use temporal markers such as “hoy (today)”, “ayer” (yesterday), “la ultima noche” (last night), etc.
Examples:
– This morning I walked ==> Esta mañana, he caminado
(Result in the present, I am in shape ==> Resultado en el presente : estoy en forma).
РThis year I started Spanish classes==> Este a̱o, he empezado las clases de espa̱ol
(Action started in the past and still continues today).
– Last year, I went to the United States ==> El año pasado, he ido a EE.UU.
(Result in the present, I speak good English ==> Resultado en el presente, hablo bien el inglés).
👉 Practice now!
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👉 Previous lesson: The gerund
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