Learn how to use the Spanish preterit tense to talk about an action in the past that is in some way linked to the present or that is near the present
Now Playing: Lesson Audio
Get a breakdown of the dialogue and translations instantly with the Premium line-by-line Audio. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Get this lesson’s key vocab, their translations and pronunciations. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account Now and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Unlock Lesson Notes and Transcripts for every single lesson. Sign Up for a Free Lifetime Account and Get 7 Days of Premium Access.
| INTRODUCTION |
| Dylan: Hola, hola a todos, soy Dylan. ¿Cómo están? |
| Carlos: What’s going on Pod101 world? My name is Carlos - Link your past to the present in Spanish. It’s been centuries. In this lesson you will learn about the preterit perfect tense. |
| Dylan: This conversation takes place on the internet. |
| Carlos: This conversation is between Julio and Sylvia. |
| Dylan: The speakers are friends, therefore the speakers will be speaking informally. |
| Carlos: Let’s listen to today’s conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| JULIO: Disculpa... ¿Usted es Silvia Herrera?... ¿de la generación 82? |
| SILVIA: ¿Julio? ¡Sí soy yo, han pasado siglos! |
| JULIO: No puedo creer que recién en Facebook nos hayamos encontrado. |
| SILVIA: Esto de Facebook sirve para encontrar gente. |
| JULIO: Tenemos tanto de que hablar... dígame, ¿qué ha sido de su vida? |
| JULIO: Excuse me...are you Silvia Herrera? ...from the class of '82? |
| SILVIA: Julio? Yeah, it's me! It's been centuries! |
| JULIO: I can't believe that just now in Facebook we have met up with each other. |
| SILVIA: This whole thing about Facebook is useful for finding people. |
| JULIO: We have so much to talk about...tell me, what have you been up to? |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Dylan: Wow, Facebook. I love it. |
| Carlos: I know you do, Dylan, I love it too. But, you’re always on it. It means I have to be on it to see that you are on it. |
| Dylan: Ha. |
| Carlos: It’s my biggest work distracter. But there was a study that says to improve productibility… |
| Dylan: Productivity? |
| Carlos: That word… that one. |
| Dylan: So you’re keeping an eye on me, that’s what going on, huh? |
| Carlos: I try. But Dylan has the internet been popular in Latin America for a long time now? |
| Dylan: Not so long, but it’s really… I think it’s grown immensely - super fast. Everybody has got it and ICE has given our high speed out to everybody. |
| Carlos: Well. guys, just so you know ICE with is spelled “ice” for the English speakers out there is the telecommunication government monopoly here, in Costa Rica. |
| Dylan: Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE). |
| Carlos: They have no kind of competition down here. No Verizon, no cable, no [inaudible 00:01:48], none of that stuff. |
| Dylan: Not yet. |
| Carlos: Not yet. Until the free trade agreement passes. Ok, guys, let’s take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Dylan: “Generación”. |
| Carlos: “Generation”, “class.” |
| Dylan: “Ge-ne-ra-ción”, “generación”. “Pasar”. |
| Carlos: “To pass”, “to go by”, “to come by”, “to come.” |
| Dylan: “Pa-sar”, “pasar”. “Siglo”. |
| Carlos: “Century.” |
| Dylan: “Si-glo”, “siglo”. “Recién”. |
| Carlos: “Recently”, “newly”, “just.” |
| Dylan: “Re-cién”, “recién”. “Encontrar”. |
| Carlos: “To find”, “to meet with.” |
| Dylan: “En-con-trar”, “encontrar”. “Gente”. |
| Carlos: “People.” |
| Dylan: “Gen-te”, “gente”. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Carlos: Ok, guys, let’s have a closer look at the usage for some of the words and phrases from this lesson. |
| Dylan: The first word we’ll look at is “generación”. |
| Carlos: “Generación”. |
| Dylan: What a strong R there, Carlos? |
| Carlos: Thank you, was that correct? |
| Dylan: No. |
| Carlos: Man, “generación”. |
| Dylan: “Generación”. |
| Carlos: “Generación”. |
| Dylan: Very good. |
| Carlos: “Generación”, I’m so use to… “Generation”, sounds easy enough. |
| Dylan: But not so fast, “generación” does mean “generation” but it’s not that easy. |
| Carlos: Why not? “Generación”, “generation”. Open shut. Case closed. |
| Dylan: Were you not paying attention to the conversation? |
| Carlos: I was but... |
| Dylan: Escucha. What is the first question that Julio asked Sylvia? |
| Carlos: “Disculpa, ¿tú eres Sylvia Herrera, de la generación del 82?” |
| Dylan: And how did we translate that? |
| Carlos: “Excuse me, are you Sylvia Herrera, from the class of 82?” |
| Dylan: See, not so straight forward. In Latin America, “generación” is also translated as “class”. |
| Carlos: Not like “clase”. |
| Dylan: No, like “class of”. In this case, “class of 82.” |
| Carlos: Oh, in that case. “Yo me gradué en la generación de 1999”. |
| Dylan: You graduated in ‘99? That means that your class reunion is coming up Carlos. |
| Carlos: I don’t know… why? Ten years hardly seems enough time to gain valuable perspective on high school. |
| Dylan: But it would be fun. |
| Carlos: Well, I’ll send them a card from Costa Rica. |
| Dylan: You were from the 90s decade, “la década de los 90”. |
| Carlos: The decade, good slip in of a related word, Dylan. |
| Dylan: Glad you caught it. Next stop “pasar”. |
| Carlos: “Pasar”: “to pass”, “to go by”, “to come by”, “to come”. Lots of band fee a buck for one word. |
| Dylan: We heard it in our conversation being used in its past participle form. |
| Carlos: “Sí, soy yo, ¡han pasado siglos!” |
| Dylan: “Yeah, it’s me it’s been centuries.” |
| Carlos: It’s always crazy when a situation like that happens. |
| Dylan: It’s the beauty of the internet. But sometimes “it’s not good to remember the past.” |
| Carlos: True. |
| Dylan: “No es bueno recordar el pasado”. |
| Carlos: Sometimes it’s better to forget the past, but not always. |
| Dylan: But you can always dream of “el futuro”, “the future”. |
| Carlos: Or be happy with “the present”, “el presente”. |
| Dylan: Yeah. |
| Carlos: I try sometimes. |
| Dylan: Now try this one for size. |
| Carlos: “Siglo”, “century". I wouldn’t have known that if I hadn’t heard it first. |
| Dylan: Right. It was in our first example. “Sí, soy yo, han pasado siglos”. “Yeah, it’s me. It’s been centuries.” Has kind of a royal feel to it, huh? |
| Carlos: “Siglo”, yeah, kind of. Probably because it is attached to roman numerals most of the time. |
| Dylan: What century are we in now, Carlos? |
| Carlos: “Estamos en el siglo 21”. |
| Dylan: “The 21st century.” |
| Carlos: Although in some remote places, we are lucky to get to 19th. |
| Dylan: Hey, in Latin America, the 21st century can get left behind very quickly. Especially when the paved roads stop. |
| Carlos: Well, you can’t have a century without an “el año”, “the year”. |
| Dylan: ¿Y diez siglos es igual a…? |
| Carlos: “El milenio”, “the millennium”s. |
| Dylan: We recently just entered a new millennium. What an exciting time? |
| Carlos: That was almost ten years ago. |
| Dylan: But it is still recent, very recent. |
| Carlos: Alright, the adverb “recién”. |
| Dylan: “Recently”, “newly”, “just.” |
| Carlos: Ok. |
| Dylan: “No puedo creer que recién en Facebook nos hayamos encontrado”. |
| Carlos: “I can’t believe that just now, on Facebook, we have met up with each other.” |
| Dylan: It was a new recent development. Facebook isn’t that old. |
| Carlos: True. |
| Dylan: Here’s an example using our translation. “Camilo y Josefa se casaron hace dos días. Ellos están recién casados”. |
| Carlos: “Camilo and Josefa got married two days ago. They are recently married.” Could I say newlyweds? |
| Dylan: You could use the translation but that would probably run into some questions later. |
| Carlos: That’s the truth. |
| Dylan: There is another way to say it. |
| Carlos: You mean “recientemente”? “Recently”, you know I was wondering about the LY with “mente”. |
| Dylan: All the rules were meant to be broken Carlos. |
| Carlos: Noted. |
| Dylan: Next up, “encontrar”. |
| Carlos: “Encontrar”. I just get reminded of “encounter” with “encontrar”, so it makes it easy. |
| Dylan: Well, we also already heard an example sentence, “no puedo creer que recién en Facebook nos hayamos encontrado”. |
| Carlos: “I can’t believe that just now on Facebook we have met up with each other.” |
| Dylan: So we know the verb “encontrar” means… |
| Carlos: “To find”, “to meet with”, “to encounter.” |
| Dylan: Like when I am looking and looking and finally “¡ya encontré mis llaves!”. |
| Carlos: “I found my keys.” But wait, we can use “conocer” also, right? |
| Dylan: Good question. “Conocer” we only apply in this sense when we are meeting someone for the first time. “Conocí a Martín ayer”. |
| Carlos: “I met Martin yesterday.” Ok, so that’s the only time? |
| Dylan: The only time. You’re going to like our last word. |
| Carlos: Really? |
| Dylan: Yes, it’s going to remind you of a song. |
| Carlos: My God that could be many things. Shoot. |
| Dylan: “Gente”. |
| Carlos: Yes, a feminine noun that does remind me of a song “Mi gente” de Héctor Lavoe. |
| Dylan: You are Puerto Rican but not “el cantante”. |
| Carlos: Never claimed that title at all Dylan. Never claimed that title at all. |
| Dylan: And in this example from our conversation, we also have another example of our last word “encontrar”, only this time in the infinitive. |
| Carlos: Ok. |
| Dylan: “Esto de Facebook sirve para encontrar gente”. |
| Carlos: “This whole thing about Facebook is useful to finding people.” |
| Dylan: Yes, it definitely is. Carlos, give me a sample sentence using “gente” that is not a salsa song, please. |
| Carlos: “Hay mucha gente en la fiesta”. |
| Dylan: “There are a lot of people at the party.” Very textbook, Carlos. |
| Carlos: Sometimes Dylan textbook is necessary. |
| Dylan: “Gente” is plural, "the people”. |
| Carlos: Interesting enough, “La persona”, “the person”, is singular and a cognate. I wonder why. |
| Dylan: It’s a mystery, Carlos. But you know what’s not a mystery? |
| Carlos: What’s that? |
| Dylan: The preterit perfect tense. |
| Carlos: Ah, yes, the preterit perfect tense. You know we’re getting to the end of this season so we should be engaging in grammar point at this level. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Dylan: So what does the preterit perfect tense explain? |
| Carlos: The preterit perfect tense expresses an action in the past that is in some way linked to the present or that is near the present. |
| Dylan: And what do we know when using this tense? |
| Carlos: We know that this action took place before the moment of speech. But what we don’t know is when it stopped. That’s the catch. |
| Dylan: Right in some cases, the action especially when it expresses an emotion, can even flow into the present. |
| Carlos: You know, there is actually something different we have to do when forming the preterit perfect tense, right, Dylan? |
| Dylan: Right. It is a simple conjugation. There is a bit more to it. We use the present tense of the auxiliary verb “haber” and a participle. |
| Carlos: You know, I knew there was something, now what about the regulars? |
| Dylan: The only irregular form occurs only when the participle form is irregular. |
| Carlos: And what about “haber”? |
| Dylan: The forms of “haber” are the same no matter what kind of participle is used. |
| Carlos: So then we should focus on the participle. |
| Dylan: The regular participle in Spanish is formed by removing the infinitive ending and adding “-ado”, for verb of the first conjugation AR and “-ido” for verbs of the second ER and third IR conjugation. |
| Carlos: So let’s take a first conjugation AR verb first. “Contar”, “to count” or “to tell.” |
| Dylan: Ok, so if the infinitive is “contar”. |
| Carlos: It follows the rule that the participle is “contado”. |
| Dylan: Remember the participle stays the same no matter what. Just conjugate the auxiliary verb. |
| Carlos: Alright, so let’s go through with “contar”. |
| Dylan: “Yo he contado”. |
| Carlos: “I have counted”, “I have told.” |
| Dylan: “Tú has contado”. |
| Carlos: “You have counted”, “you have told.” |
| Dylan: “Él/ella/usted ha contado”. |
| Carlos: “He has counted”, “he has told”, “she has counted”, “she has told”, and “you have counted”, “you have told”, (formal). |
| Dylan: “Ha contado”. |
| Carlos: “It has counted” (neutral). |
| Dylan: “Nosotros hemos contado”. |
| Carlos: “We have counted”, “we have told.” |
| Dylan: “Vosotros habéis contado”. |
| Carlos: “You all have counted”, “you all have told” (informal). |
| Dylan: “Ellos/ellas/ustedes han contado”. |
| Carlos: “They have counted”, “they have told”, (masculine), “they have counted”, “they have told”, (feminine), “you all have counted”, “you all have told”, (formal). |
| Dylan: “Han contado”. |
| Carlos: “They have counted”, “they have told”, neutral. |
| Dylan: Now, let’s take a second conjugation ER verb, “correr”. |
| Carlos: “Correr”, “to run”, infinitive “correr”. |
| Dylan: “Yo he corrido”. |
| Carlos: “I have run.” |
| Dylan: “Tú has corrido”. |
| Carlos: “You have run.” |
| Dylan: “Él/ella/usted ha corrido”. |
| Carlos: “He has run, she has run, you have run” (formal). |
| Dylan: “Ha corrido”. |
| Carlos: “It has run” (neutral). |
| Dylan: “Nosotros hemos corrido”. |
| Carlos: “We have run.” |
| Dylan: “Vosotros habéis corrido”. |
| Carlos: “You all have run” (informal). |
| Dylan: “Ellos/ellas/ustedes han corrido”. |
| Carlos: “The have run, (masculine), they have run, (feminine), and you all have run” (formal). |
| Dylan: “Han corrido”. |
| Carlos: “They have run” (neutral). |
| Dylan: Not that hard really all you have to focus on is knowing the participle. |
| Carlos: True, but let me pick the last one, a third conjugation IR verb. I know a favorite example “dormir”, “to sleep.” |
| Dylan: “Dormir”, infinitive. |
| Carlos: And “dormido”, participle. |
| Dylan: “Yo he dormido”. |
| Carlos: “I have slept.” |
| Dylan: “Tú has dormido”. |
| Carlos: “You have slept.” |
| Dylan: “Él/ella/usted ha dormido”. |
| Carlos: “He has slept, she has slept, you have slept” (formal). |
| Dylan: “Ha dormido”. |
| Carlos: “It has slept” (neutral). |
| Dylan: “Nosotros hemos dormido”. |
| Carlos: “We have slept.” |
| Dylan: “Vosotros habéis dormido”. |
| Carlos: “You all have slept” (informal). |
| Dylan: “Ellos/ellas/ustedes han dormido”. |
| Carlos: “They have slept (masculine), they have slept (feminine), you all have slept” (formal). |
| Dylan: “Han dormido”. |
| Carlos: “They have slept” (neutral). Now, how about one sample sentence for each of these verbs? “contar”, “to count” or “to tell”, “correr”, “to run” and “dormir” in the preterit perfect tense ? |
| Dylan: “¿Les has contado lo que pasó?” |
| Carlos: “Have you told them about what happened?” |
| Dylan: “He corrido desde mi casa hasta la tuya”. |
| Carlos: “I have run from my house to yours.” |
| Dylan: “Han dormido casi todo el día”. |
| Carlos: “They have slept almost all day.” |
| Dylan: The formation of the participle is key, because it’s used for all of the compound tenses. |
| Carlos: And it looks to me that it is equally as important to learn the forms of the auxiliary verb “haber” as its form are also used in all the compound forms. |
| Dylan: The participle can also be used as an adjective, in which case the endings must be in agreement with the nouns they modify. |
| Carlos: What do you mean? |
| Dylan: For example, “han dormido” means “they have slept”, but “ellos están dormidos” means that “they are asleep”. Only when a participle is used as an adjective does its ending change. When it is part of a compound verb it always ends with O. |
Outro |
| Carlos: Ok, Dylan, thanks for clarifying. Ok, guys, you know what - that just about does it for today. |
| Dylan: Chao! |
| Carlos: Nos vemos! |
Easily master this lesson’s grammar points with in-depth explanations and examples. Sign up for your Free Lifetime Account and get 7 Days of Premium Access including this feature.
Comments
Hide