Tener with Tiempos Compuestos

Question

In a spanish book we use in my class, some of the practice questions about tiempos compuestos have examples which I find hard to understand. For example, one of the sentences (fill in the blank with the correct form of the verb) is as follows:

"Cuando ella llegó a la casa, su madre ya tenía _____ (preparar) la cena."

How would this sentence work? I feel like it should be the pluperect, with había instead of where tenía is located. Is there some rule about use tenía in conjunction with the pluperfect?

Another example: "Cuando la profesora le hizo la pregunta, Carmina ya tenía ____ (pensar) la respuesta."

Again, it feels like the pluperfect should be in the place of tenía.

Thanks of the help!

• good question redsoxown - Izanoni1 Oct 24, 2009

Answer 1

I hunted up a few references for you so that you can ponder this for yourself

1). RAE entry for tener: This entry in the Real Academia Española website explains how and why tener might be used as an auxiliary in compound tenses. This is probably the most authoritative source

2). RAE entry for haber: This entry for haber is included to add contrast between the two verbs

3). Spanish Auxiliary Verbs Tutorial: This is from another educational Spanish website that supports the fact that tener can be used this way and cautions that if their is a direct object then the past participle must agree with the direct object of the sentence

4). Haber y Tener: Here is a post on another website's forum where the use of tener as an auxiliary is discussed

4). Tenía preparada: Here is a link to an article in El Mañana that uses the term tenía preparada in the title of the article

I hope that these links were helpful.

• Great references! (btw, your RAE link is to 'haber'). Use of 'tener' adds emphasis. Thanks! - chaparrito Oct 24, 2009
• Thanks Chaparrito and sorry about the mix-up...I fixed the link and you might want to take a look at the section marked "tener + participio" - Izanoni1 Oct 24, 2009

Answer 2

Hi redsoxown,

Although seldom used this way, tener can sometimes be used in place of haber as a more emphatic auxiliary in forming the compound tenses. As I have said this is rare. In fact, I have never encountered this myself, but have read that it can be used this way in at least three separate grammar books.

I'm not sure if this is the answer that you were looking for, but I hope that it helps.

Answer 3

I have to say, I really feel like había should be there as well. "...ya había preparado la cena" I wish I could be of more help, but I have never seen/heard that sentence structure. Please post a reply if you figure out how this is supposed to work.

Answer 4

I agree with redsoxown. This does seem confusing because there are slightly different thoughts conveyed with 'haber' and 'tener' in the two examples.

"... su madre ya tenía preparada la cena" would emphasize that the meal was already prepared. Whereas: "... su madre ya había preparado la cena" would emphasize that the mother had already done the preparing.

The same idea would apply to the second example. Can someone site a work that actually uses 'tener + participle' for Tiempos Compuestos?

• The RAE confirms that it is used in this way (see link below) and from what I understand, they are generally considered the authority on such matters - Izanoni1 Oct 24, 2009

Answer 5

so easy. with tener it's simply progressive. HAVE sg done, same in english.