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The Perfect
or Compound tenses effectively double the number of tenses &
moods that exist in Spanish.
The three moods, which include all tenses,
are:
Being that there are seven simple tenses,
it is then possible to create seven more compound tenses by combining
the verb HABER (auxiliary verb "to have") with a past
participle (a verb converted to
its adjectival form.) Just in case you were wondering,
that means that there are 14 different verb tenses/moods, plus
an alternative form of the imperfect subjunctive. Add to
that the five command forms and three uninflected forms, and you
have a total of 98 different spellings for each verb. Fortunately,
there are patterns that make this a lot easier than it sounds.
By learning this lesson, you will instantly double the number
of tenses you already know.
The reason for doing this is perhaps best
explained by examining the Preterite
and the Imperfect Past tenses together, and comparing them
to the Present Perfect and Present tenses.
It also helps to realize that the full and
proper names for these four tenses we will be examining are: Present
Imperfect Indicative (simple present tense), Present Perfect Indicative
(compound present tense), Preterite Perfect Indicative (simple
past tense known as the Preterite) and Preterite Imperfect Indicative.
In the following table, the relationship between the left column
and the right column remains identical.
| Preterite
Perfect |
Preterite
Imperfect |
| I
ate the bananas. |
I
was eating the bananas. (or, better yet:
I used to eat bananas) |
| Comí
las bananas. |
Comía
las bananas. (or Comía bananas) |
| Present
Perfect |
Present
Imperfect |
| I
have eaten the bananas. |
I
eat bananas |
| He
comido las bananas. |
Como
bananas. |
The simple present is used to express actions
that are occurring, or that happen habitually. The compound
present, or present perfect is used to express actions that are
completed or perfected some time previous to the present moment.
The same is true of preterite and imperfect
tenses, except that the reference point is in the past.
The next step is to explain the purpose and
function of the other compound tenses. I will explain them
in order of frequency of usage. The next most common compound
tense is to put the verb HABER in the past tense: había
comido & hube comido.
Since the distinction between Preterite and
Imperfect is extremely unclear when you get down to the point
of distinguishing between the Preterite of Haber vs the Imperfect
of Haber (i.e. what would be the difference between "había
comido" and "hube comido"?) The use of the preterite
of HABER has been eliminated from modern Spanish. It is
likely that you will encounter it in written form in texts over
100 years old, but there is no usage of HUBE + past participle
at this point. (This doesn't affect the usage of HABER
to express existence--an idiomatic structure completely unrelated
to the auxiliary use of HABER + past participle--Hubo un accidente
en frente de mis ojos.)
What exactly does it mean to use the Past
Perfect, or Pluperfect (called Pluscuamperfecto in Spanish)?
Well, take a close look at its full Spanish name: Plus=more,
Cuam=than, Perfecto=Perfect or Past. Hence, I like to call
it the "Super-past" or, the past of the past.
(You refer to one point in the past, then refer to a second point
that is even more past than the other). Consequently, the
pluperfect tense cannot be used in a single clause, because you
have to have at least two clauses to set up one action in the
past, and then the pluperfect action which came before it:
When we arrived, he had already left.
Cuando llegamos, ya había salido él.
They hadn't finished the homework because
they didn't understand it.
No habían completado la tarea porque no la entendieron.
The same is true of the future perfect and
conditional perfect. The future perfect is used to refer
to an action that will have been completed before some future
point--hence, it requires two clauses. It could be called
the past of the future.
En cuanto llegues, ya habremos salido.
By the time you get here, we will have already left.
The conditional perfect refers to an action
that would have been completed after some hypothetical
action.
No le habríamos dado el cheque si hubiéramos
sabido que el producto era tan malo.
We wouldn't have given him the check if we had known that the
product was so bad.
Notice that both the conditional and the future
perfect tenses depend upon the usage
of the subjunctive.
The verb HABER can also be put into the Subjunctive
Moods, which give the Present Perfect Subjunctive, and the Pluperfect
Subjunctive. See
the Subjunctive Page for more information on this.
NOTE: With the usage of the compound tenses,
the past participle is functioning as a past participle, and
should not be treated as an adjective. (It does not reflect
gender or number) When a past participle follows the verbs
SER or ESTAR, or it is used as a direct modifier of a noun, it
will change to reflect gender and number. Refer to the page on
Uninflected Verbs and on the
Passive Voice and Ser
vs Estar for more information on this. This means that
past participles following HABER will always end in "O"
while those following the verbs SER or ESTAR or directly following
nouns will function as adjectives that do reflect gender and number.
Las bananas son comidas por Darren.
(passive voice: The bananas are eaten by Darren.)
Darren ha comido las bananas.
Las bananas han sido comidas.
All Conjugations of HABER
| Present |
| he |
has |
ha |
| hemos |
habéis |
han |
The present perfect tense: Nunca he
visto nada como ése.
Ya hemos leído el capítulo.
| Past |
| había |
habías |
había |
| habíamos |
habíais |
habían |
The pluperfect indicative: Me alegré cuando
descubrí que habían decidido no construir
un estadio nuevo para los Twins. (3 events--chronologically
1st is the decision, second is my discovery, third is my becoming
happy.)
| Future-Conditional |
| habré
habría |
habrás
habrías |
habrá
habría |
habremos
habríamos |
habréis
habríais |
habrán
habrían |
Future perfect indicative: Cuando llegues
a mi casa, ya habré salido.
Conditional perfect indicative: Si tu
no hubieras dicho eso, no me habría ofendido
tanto.
| Present
Subjunctive |
| haya |
hayas |
haya |
| hayamos |
hayáis |
hayan |
Present perfect subjunctive: Siento
que hayas estado enfermo.
| Imperfect
Subjunctive (two possible forms) |
hubiera
hubiese |
hubieras
hubieses |
hubiera
hubiese |
hubiéramos
hubiésemos |
hubierais
hubieseis |
hubieran
hubiesen |
Pluperfect subjunctive : Sentía que hubieras
estado enfermo.
See Subjunctive
Page for more on the use and forms of the subjunctive.
Past Participles:
For the most part, past participles
are very simple to form:
for AR verbs, change the AR to ADO, for ER & IR verbs, change
the ending to IDO.
HABLAR--Hablado
COMER--Comido Vivir--Vivido.
Grammatically, a past participle
can function as a participle when accompanying the verb HABER,
and as an adjective in all other uses. See the page on uninflected
verbs for more information.
There are a limited number of irregular
participles, just as in English:
| -STO
group |
-TO
group |
-CHO |
Odd |
poner--puesto
ver--visto
|
abrir-abierto
romper--roto
volver--vuelto
resolver--resuelto
escribir--escrito
morir--muerto
|
decir--dicho
hacer--hecho |
imprimir--impreso |
Also, all of the verbs that
end in ER or IR preceded by another vowel need accent marks on
the participle in order to break the diphthong into two syllables.
reír--reído oír--oído traer--traído
caer--caído leer--leído
Surprisingly enough, the verbs
SER, IR and ESTAR have completely REGULAR participles:
sido, ido, estado. BELIEVE IT OR NOT!!!
Haber is used to establish the
existence of things. In English, the verb agrees in number
with the things that exist. In Spanish, the subject is always
an impersonal it (It has there vs There are/is). Therefore,
each tense of this structure has only one, 3rd person singular
form.
Hay--There is, there are, are there? is there?
hubo--preterite form of the above. Used for things that
existed as events or accidents, for example.
había--imperfect of the above. Used for describing things
that existed.
va a haber-- there is/are going to be.
habrá -- there will be
habría -- there would be
haya -- subunctive "that there will or may be"
hubiera/hubiese -- "that there were"
PERFECT TENSES:
ha habido -- there has/have been
había habido -- there had been
habrá habido -- there will have been
habría habido -- there would have been
haya habido -- "that there may/will be"
hubiera habido -- "that there had been"
ALSO, Haber is used in this common, impersonal idiomatic structure:
Hay que, which is a substitute for "es necesario."
It is also like Tiene que, but it is impersonal.
Hay que ser paciente. (es
necesario ser paciente)
"No hay de que"
means "you're welcome" but it's actually short for
"No hay de que dar gracias" (it's not necessary
to thank me)
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