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CoffeeBreakSpanish.com In this edition: introducing the perfect tense Lesson 64 Notes He visitado España I have visited Spain Programme Notes Coffee Break Spanish notes guide you through the content of each lesson. In this lesson we introduce the perfect tense. Talking about the past In previous episodes of Coffee Break Spanish we’ve learned about the preterite and imperfect tenses. By now you should be familiar with the fact that the preterite tense is used as a narrative tense in the past for single actions, and the imperfect tense is used to describe ongoing, repeated actions. There is another tense which is used for specific situations in the past: the perfect tense. Forming the perfect tense To begin with, let’s consider briefly the main way in which the perfect tense is translated. Consider the following example: he cantado una canción I have sung a song The perfect tense has two elements. The first element is a part of the ‘auxiliary’ verb haber. In the example above, he comes from haber. We’ll come to this later. The second element of the tense is the past participle. In the example above, the past participle is cantado, meaning ‘sung’. Forming the past participle of regular verbs is extremely easy. Forming the past participle cantar cantado beber bebido vivir vivido Note that with -ar verbs you must remove the -ar and add the ending -ado. With both -er and -ir verbs, you take off this ending and add -ido. Some verbs have irregular past participles, but we will come to these in lesson 65. As we explained, the first element of the perfect tense is a part of the verb haber. This verb literally means “to have”, but it is only used as part of this tense. If you want to say “I have a brother” you always use tengo (< tener). Haber is used therefore as the “have” of “I have done”, etc. Since haber is used to “help” us form the perfect tense, it is referred to as an auxiliary verb. Coffee Break Spanish: Lesson 64 page 1 haber (to have (done something)) - PRESENT he hemos has habéis ha han Conjugating some verbs in the perfect tense We can now consider the full conjugation of some verbs in the perfect tense. Remember: you require both the part of haber (the ‘auxiliary’ verb) and the past participle. cantar (to sing) - PERFECT he cantado hemos cantado has cantado habéis cantado ha cantado han cantado estudiar (to study) - PERFECT he estudiado hemos estudiado has estudiado habéis estudiado ha estudiado han estudiado comer (to eat) - PERFECT he comido hemos comido has comido habéis comido ha comido han comido decidir (to decide) - PERFECT he decidido hemos decidido has decidido habéis decidido ha decidido han decidido Using the perfect tense The most common use of the perfect tense is when it is used to translate “to have done something”. It is used in a number of other situations which we will cover in future lessons. Listed below are the examples which were used in the lesson. he comprado una casa I have bought a house Coffee Break Spanish: Lesson 64 page 2 has comprado una casa you have bought a house Miguel ha comprado una casa Miguel has bought a house Teresa ha comprado una casa Teresa has bought a house hemos comprado una casa we have bought a house habéis comprado una casa you (plural, Spain) have bought a house han comprado una casa they have bought a house ustedes han comprado una casa you (formal, plural) have bought a house It’s extremely important that you understand that the past participle does not agree with gender and number. It’s haber which changes. Regardless of who has bought the house, comprado never changes its ending. Further examples In the podcast, both Mark and Kara talked about what they’ve been doing. The phrases used are listed below and are in answer to the question ¿qué has hecho hoy? which means “what have you done today?” Spanish Coffee Break Spanish: Lesson 64 English he trabajado mucho I have worked lots / a lot he estudiado I have studied he hablado con mi amiga I have spoken with/to my friend he comido paella I have eaten paella he preparado algunos materiales para el podcast I have prepared some materials for the podcast he jugado con mis dos hijos I have played with my two sons he hecho muchas cosas I have done lots of things page 3