What is the difference between "estaba" y "he sido"?

Question

Thank you nice people for answering my question about the difference between "estuve" and "estaba".

Now I understand why when my friend called me up yesterday I should've said: " Estaba en el supermercado". Would it still be correct if I had told her: "He sido en el supermercado esta manyana" or not?

Answer 1

Would it still be correct if I had told her: "He sido en el supermercado esta mañana" or not?

Dave is correct. "sido" comes from "ser," which is not used to talk about your location.

However, if you want, you can use the verb "estar" in the past perfect to indicate your location, for example:

"¿Has estado en México alguna vez?" (Have you ever been in Mexico?)

"Sí, he estado en México antes" (Yes, I have been in Mexico before.)

Answer 2

No, because 'he sido' comes from 'ser', which is not used to indicate location.

You could though have said: 'He ido al supermercado esta mañana', which is more correct as the 'pretérito perfecto' is used when the time period being referred to is still connected to 'now'. For example: 'this week', 'this month', 'this year', or 'this morning'.

Ser can actually be used to talk about location, but not just in any way. - lazarus1907, Aug 22, 2010

OK, that's true. Thanks for the correction. - dave0710, Aug 22, 2010

Answer 3

hi,

He estado en el supermercado would be correct in a different context. In the context you are describing not, the correct form is estaba en el super cuando llamaste.