The past

The pretérito perfecto: he hablado, he comido#

Haber, never tener. English “have” is both the auxiliary and the verb of possession; Spanish splits the two. The auxiliary is always haber: he comido, “I have eaten”. Tener expresses possession only: tengo un coche, “I have a car”. Haber is the auxiliary of every verb, reflexive verbs included: ha llegado, “she has arrived”; nos hemos levantado, “we have got up”.

No agreement. After haber, the participle does not change: Ana ha salido, mis hermanas han venido.

The auxiliary and the participle are never separated. Object pronouns and no are placed before haber: No lo he visto, Me he duchado. Where English puts “already” between the two (“I have already eaten”), ya is placed before the auxiliary or after the participle: Ya he comido, He comido ya.

Used as an adjective after estar, the same participle agrees with the noun: La tienda está cerrada (“Estar and the participle: la puerta está cerrada”).

→ See also: Estar and the participle: estoy cansado, está cerrada (A1)

In much of Latin America, the indefinido is also used in these cases. The choice between the two tenses is presented in “Choosing a past tense: perfecto, indefinido or imperfecto”.

• Esta mañana he desayunado en un bar.This morning I had breakfast in a café.
• ¿Has terminado los deberes? — Todavía no.Have you finished your homework? — Not yet.
• Mis amigas han llegado a las nueve.My friends arrived at nine.
• ¿Habéis comido alguna vez paella?Have you ever eaten paella?
• Este año he leído muchos libros.This year I have read a lot of books.

Irregular past participles: hecho, dicho, visto, puesto#

• ¿Qué habéis hecho este fin de semana?What did you do this weekend?
• Mi madre ha puesto las flores en la mesa.My mother has put the flowers on the table.
• ¿Has visto mis gafas?Have you seen my glasses?
• Los niños han roto una ventana.The children have broken a window.

The pretérito indefinido: hablé, comí, fui, tuve#

The written accent. Hablo (“I speak”) and habló (“he spoke”) differ only in the accent, and the stress moves with it: HA-blo, ha-BLÓ. In the nosotros form, verbs in -ar and -ir have the same form as in the present (hablamos, vivimos), and the context shows the tense. Verbs in -er have two different forms: comemos, comimos.

Seven irregular verbs. Ser and ir have the same forms: fui, fuiste, fue, fuimos, fuisteis, fueron; the meaning is clear from the sentence (Fue a Lima, “he went to Lima”; Fue difícil, “it was difficult”). Tener, estar and hacer change their stem (tuv-, estuv-, hic-) and take endings without a written accent, -e, -iste, -o, -imos, -isteis, -ieron: tuve, estuvo, hicimos; in the third person singular, hic- is spelt hizo. Ver takes the endings of verbs in -er (vi, viste, vio), and so does dar, although it ends in -ar: di, diste, dio, dimos, disteis, dieron. The one-syllable forms fui, fue, vi, vio, di and dio are written without an accent. At A2, the indefinido is limited to regular verbs and these seven verbs; other irregular verbs have forms of their own too.

Reciting the six forms aloud, in the order yo, tú, él / ella, nosotros, vosotros, ellos / ellas, fixes the endings and the stem of each irregular verb.

• Ayer cené con unos amigos.Yesterday I had dinner with some friends.
• ¿Dónde nacieron tus padres?Where were your parents born?
• El verano pasado fuimos a la playa con mis primos.Last summer we went to the beach with my cousins.
• Anoche estuve en casa de Lucía.Last night I was at Lucía's.
• ¿Qué hiciste el sábado?What did you do on Saturday?

Ago and since: hace dos años, desde, desde hace#

Desde que, hasta, al cabo de. Desde que (“since”) is followed by a conjugated verb: desde que vivo en Lima. Hasta (“until”) marks the end: desde las nueve hasta las dos. Al cabo de + length of time means “after”: Al cabo de un mes, volvió a su pueblo.

• Mis abuelos se conocieron hace cincuenta años.My grandparents met fifty years ago.
• Estoy en Madrid desde el martes.I've been in Madrid since Tuesday.
• Juego al tenis desde hace tres años.I've been playing tennis for three years.
• Hace una semana que no veo a Marta.I haven't seen Marta for a week.

The pretérito imperfecto: hablaba, comía, era, iba#

Three irregular verbs. Only ser, ir and ver are irregular: era, eras, era, éramos, erais, eran; iba, ibas, iba, íbamos, ibais, iban; veía, veías, veía, veíamos, veíais, veían. Verbs that are irregular in the present are regular in the imperfecto: tenía, hacía, podía, salía. Hay becomes había: Había mucha gente, “There were a lot of people”.

Reciting the six forms aloud fixes the two sets of endings and the three irregular verbs.

• Cuando tenía diez años, vivíamos en un pueblo.When I was ten, we lived in a village.
• La casa era pequeña, pero tenía un jardín.The house was small, but it had a garden.
• Antes comíamos en casa de mis abuelos todos los domingos.We used to have lunch at my grandparents' every Sunday.
• De niña, Lucía veía la televisión por la tarde.As a child, Lucía would watch television in the afternoon.
• En la playa había muchos turistas.There were a lot of tourists on the beach.

Choosing a past tense: perfecto, indefinido or imperfecto#

The scene and the event. In the same sentence, the imperfecto describes the situation and the indefinido the action that happens in it: Hacía sol y fuimos a la playa; Cuando llegué, mi madre cocinaba, “When I arrived, my mother was cooking”. A judgement on a finished event is in the indefinido: La fiesta fue muy divertida; El concierto estuvo genial. In Spain, hoy takes the perfecto: Hoy he visto a Diego, pero ayer vi a su hermano; in much of Latin America, the indefinido is also used with hoy.

One English “was”, four Spanish forms. “It was” is fue or estuvo for a finished event judged as a whole (fue estupendo), era or estaba for a description (era tarde, estaba cansada). The choice between ser and estar follows the usual rule; the choice between the indefinido and the imperfecto follows the question: an event told, or a scene described?

The verb's forms together. At A1 and A2, a verb is known by five forms: the present in yo and él, and the pretérito perfecto, the indefinido and the imperfecto, each in the first person singular.

• Esta semana he ido dos veces al gimnasio.I've been to the gym twice this week.
• La semana pasada fui tres veces.Last week I went three times.
• Eran las once y estaba muy cansada.It was eleven o'clock and I was very tired.
• Estaba en la ducha cuando llamó mi madre.I was in the shower when my mother rang.
• El viaje fue estupendo.The trip was great.

In short