There are lots of ways to talk about the past in Spanish. In today’s episode of the Real Fast Spanish tips podcast you will learn about a hack for talking about actions that have occurred in the past.
This hack for talking about the past is in fact one of the common Spanish grammar hacking sentences. For conversation hackers it is worth knowing about this past tense conjugation to help keep a conversation going if you don’t know all of the spanish past conjugations.
At the start of this episode I mentioned a common mistake for english speakers. This common mistake is that we tend to translate the word “another” to “un otro” in Spanish. This is a common mistake worth avoiding if you can because it tends to annoy native speakers and it is easy to correct if you are a way of it.
A few examples:
I have another example – Tengo otro ejemplo
I have another thing – Tengo otra cosa
I would like to speak about another thing – Quiero hablar de otra cosa
I want to learn another language – Quiero aprender otra idioma
In today’s episode we talk about the past perfect if you want to use the past perfect you need to become familar with the verb “haber”
“Haber” is conjugated as follows:
I have – Yo he
You have – Tu has
He has / She has – El / Ella ha
We have – Nosotros hemos
You-all have – Vosotros habeis
They have – Ellos / Ellas han
The next thing you need to know is have to form the past participle:
– Ar verbs
Hablar – Hablado
Estudiar – Estudiado
Encontrar – Encontrado
– Er and Ir verbs
Comer – Comido (Eaten)
Querer – Querido (Wanted)
Vivir – Vivido (Lived)
Poder – Podido (Abled)
Ir – Ido (Been/Went/Gone)
The present perfect can now be used:
I have spoken – He hablado
I have eaten – He comido
I have lived – He vivido
You have studied – Has estudiado
He / she has found – Ha encontrado
Here are a few irregular past participles you should know:
Decir – Dicho (Said)
Hacer – Hecho (Done)
Ver – Visto (Seen)
The Spanish grammar hacking sentence:
I have eaten the apple – Me he comido la manzana
The appropriate use of the present perfect:
Today, I have eaten an apple – Hoy, me he comido la manzana.
This week, I have done many things – Esta semana, he hecho muchas cosas.
This weekend, I spoke with my friends – Este fin de semana, he hablado con mis amigos
Starting to form some ideas in the past to tell stories, here is the example from today’s podcast:
What did you do on the weekend ? – ¿Que has hecho el fin de semana?
I did a lot of things – He hecho muchas cosas.
My girlfriend and I went to the market – Mi novia y yo hemos ido al mercado
My girlfriend bought some things – Mi novia ha comprado algunas cosas.
She bought a new dress and shoes – Ella ha comprado un nuevo vestido y los zapatos.
Later, we bought some food for dinner – Después, hemos comprado comida para la cena.
Another thing, I found a very interesting book. But I didn’t buy it because it was very expensive – Otra cosa, he encontrado un libro muy interesante. Pero no he comprado el libro porque es muy caro.
Also, we went to the cinemas and we saw a movie – También, hemos ido al cine y hemos visto una película.
This episodes quote:
“Cada vez que conoces a alguien tu vida cambia y, tanto si te gusta como si no, nosotros nos hemos encontrado; yo he entrado en tu vida y tú en la mía.” – Federico Moccia (Esta noche dime que me quieres)
In today’s podcast, we talked about one of the important grammar hacking sentences. To see the others, check out our free conversation hacking guide.
How can you use today’s tip to talk about the past?
Podcast: Play in new window
Hi Andrew.
I’ve been working on past and future tenses over the last few weeks – something that seems to have given me some trouble, but I’m really getting the hang of it now.
I think I’ve cracked the past perfect – haber (stem of verb)+ado/ido. Easy.
Today I discovered the verb ‘acabar’ (to finish), and how that can be used to suggest something that has just been done.
This seems like a useful grammar hack, since it’s a regular verb that is easy to conjugate, and the second verb doesn’t need to be conjugated, eg “Acabo salir” (I have just left), or “Acabamos comer” (We have just eaten).
Is this correct, and would native speakers use this form? Is it interchangeable with the past perfect?
I suppose the future tense could be expressed in a similar way, using “ir” (to go), although that’s slightly more tricky, being an irregular verb. So, “Voy a salir” (I am going to leave), or “Vamos a comer” (We are going to eat).
Apologies if you’ve covered this already.
Hey Alan,
With “acabar ” you have to use the preposition “de”. To have just done something is “acabar de …”. Your examples would be “Acabo de salir” (I just left) or “acabamos de comer” (we have just eaten). It is a really useful grammar hack.
It is not interchangeable with the past perfect because the past perfect could apply to something that happened hours, days or weeks ago. For example “Este mes, he leido un libro” (this month I read a book).
“Acabar de” is reserved for something that just happened. For example in the last 5-10 minutes. Once an action is more than a few hours old, you are going to have to transition from “acabar de” to the past perfect.
I love this ! Fantastic !
I am so happy that I found this !
Thanks Carrie, I’m glad you found it helpful!
Thank you for covering this topic, but I don’t understand if this is just a useful tool or the correct tense to use. Take your example: Also, we went to the cinemas and we saw a movie – También, hemos ido al cine y hemos visto una película.
As your example shows, in English we don’t use the past perfect in that sentence. Is it more correct to use the past perfect in Spanish in this situation or is it just as correct or more correct to say: También, fuimos al cine y vimos una película?
Hola Catherine, it depends on when you saw the movie and the country you are in. But if you already know “fuimos” and “vimos”, then you don’t need to worry about a “hack for the past”, you will have to switch between these two tenses if you want to get the grammar right.
Hi Andrew. Echoing what Catherine had said above, is it correct to say that the present perfect tense in Spanish can be used the same way as the past simple tense in English?
Hola Huy, the short answer is that it depends. I just noticed that I didn’t say that above in my response. What I said is that it depends on when and where something happened. The purpose of this podcast episdoe is to learn the “hack”, the quickest way to speak about the past in Spanish. Once you have learnt this, then you can learn the subtleties of when to use the past simple and present perfect in Spanish, which is not the same as English.
Hi Andrew:
My reference says that “he has, ha, etc.) is used with “present perfect” and (habia, habias, habia, etc.) is used with “past perfect”. I assume this would be “I have eaten” (present perfect) versus “I had eaten” (past perfect). Is this correct?
Hola Lennett, yes, that sounds correct.
Esta mañana he leído este artículo y he escuchado el podcast. No sabía antes sobre el uso de “comerse” versus “comer”. También me gusta la cita de Federico Moccia. ¡Gracias Andrew!
Gracias Mary por tu comentario 🙂