Conjugation trick? Can it work?
I just read the Conjugation section in the Reference part of the sight and don't think I'm going to be able to sleep well tonight. I get the conugation of Future and Past and am nearly perfecting them at the moment (along with exceptions ) , no problem there.
But then comes the Scary Preterit with a million exceptions ( some are just exceptions in writing but sound the same with normal conjugation ) like ( Caer - Cayó). Even though i'm really enthusiastic about learning espanol I'm just wondering if i can use the "Haber" conjugations along with the participle for saying anything in the PReterit form. like " He comentado " ( I have commented ) or "He Sido " ( I have been ) to talk in the past tense. Could it be used for every word then ?
7 Answers
How about if you want to say that you ate an apple yesterday?
"I have eaten an apple yesterday" won't cut it.
You'll have to use the preterit and say "Ayer comí una manzana."
Police: When did you last see your roommate? SELWICH: I have seen him Thursday at three o'clock.
Mom: What did you eat for dinner? SELWICH: I have eaten a sandwich.
I think you need to learn past tense. Good try though 
Sure. Skip the tenses that you don't like (and probably all of the subjunctive). Ignore the distinctions between ser/estar and por/para, pronounce 'r'/'rr' as though they were letters in English. Perhaps, even, skip trying to use the plural forms of nouns and adjectives. Work hard at it and, in time, you may be a fluent speaker of "broken Spanish".
The problem with avoiding preterite is that the different between preterite and imperfect is a huge concept in Spanish past tense.
I would just tackle preterite head on. Usually it's the second tense to be taught in regular high school Spanish courses to "get it out of the way" and then to have lots of time to practice it.
You can break down preterite into a few major categories:
- Regular verbs
- Spelling change verbs
- Stem change verbs
- "Little" verbs (no accents, some irregular)
- Irregular Ending verbs (own set of endings)
I have a PDF that I made that might interest you that has all the rules for preterite in one spot. If you know (1) the meanings of the verbs, and (2) what -ir verbs stem change, it might be a big help to you. Send me a PM with your e-mail address.
I wish there were a system to upload small files from users to SpanishDict!
If you use the present perfect (your example of "he comentado"), it won't be the same. It does not have exactly the same meaning as comenté. However, you might be pleased to know that in Spain (but not Latin America), it sort of works. In some cases anyway. Here's how it goes: if something that you'd use the preterite for in Latin America just happened recently, then you use the present perfect. Like, if you're having an argument with someone and you want to say, "I said no!" you would say, "¡He dicho que no!" If you went to the store today, you can use the present perfect, but if you went yesterday, you'll have to use the preterite. Other past actions take the preterite or imperfect, according to normal usage rules of those two tenses.
There are no Spanish speaking people where I live, either.
I practice Spanish when doing mundane chores like folding clothes.
I recite sentences over and over until they "feel" right.
Damn.. gotta sit and cram them i guess.. But even if i use it and mention the time and say " Ayer , He dormido para tres horas " Yesterday i had slept for 3 hours . at the end of the day - people will understand me perfectly right ? I mean that's the point of the language.. I'm not trying to be lazy , But I got 0 exposure to the language except from the Internet and movies as no1 speaks the language where I am.
So maybe i'm thinking that I can do by learning this way until I gain some exposure and then through experience will get everything in order ?
