Help with grammar

Question

For homework I have to write 5 things that I have never done Escribe 5 cosas que no has hecho nunca. Puede usar nunca.

Would this be correct Yo no hecho nunca estado a Japon ( I have never been to Japan)

Welcome Paul - This sort of sentence should work well in the translator above - if entered correctly in English. - ian-hill, Mar 23, 2011

Answer 1

Hi, Paul. Welcome to the forum.

I'd say:

Nunca he estado en Japón.

Answer 2

We are studying the Preterito Perfecto and my answer has got to be related to this I think. Im lost . Thankyou any way -

You should have told us that.

Nunca fui a Japón. (I never went to Japan)

Nunca estuve en Japón. (I never was in Japan)

The instruction's use of the present perfect tense (things that you never have done) led us to answer in the same [wrong] tense.

Your examples use the pretérito, not the pretérito perfecto. - lorenzo9, Mar 23, 2011

Answer 3

We are studying the Preterito Perfecto and my answer has got to be related to this I think. Im lost . Thankyou any way - PaulWil

The pretérito perfecto is formed by using the present indicative form of haber conjugated to agree with the subject (subject pronouns are usually omitted here, so the subject is implied) followed by the past particple of the verb. You can't stick another word like nunca imbetween them, and you can't use two past particples in a row:

I have been = he estado
I have not been = No he estado
I have never been = No he estado nunca/Nunca he estado

he is the present indicative of haber conjugated to agree with the subject Yo.
estado is the past particple of estar.

No, he is talking about pretérito perfecto simple (preterite) not compuesto (present perfect) from his other posts. . - 0074b507, Mar 23, 2011

He explicitly said he is learning pretérito perfecto, which is not the simple past (pretérito.) - lorenzo9, Mar 23, 2011

I hate these tense abbreviations. How about preterite and co-preterite? Or imperfect and indefinite? - 0074b507, Mar 23, 2011

See his other posts. - 0074b507, Mar 23, 2011

There is no tense pretérito perfecto (it must have the "simple" to mean preterite or compuesto to mean Present Perfect) Our verb tables have lousy labels. - 0074b507, Mar 23, 2011

He is only seeing the simple past as pretérito perfecto and pretérito imperfecto. - 0074b507, Mar 23, 2011

Answer 4

Yo no hecho nunca estado a Japon

No, it is incorrect.

Hecho [done] is the past participle of Hacer. You are confusing it with the auxiliary verb Haber used to form the compound tenses.

Nunca he/había estado en Japón.

...things that I have never done.

...cosas que nunca he hecho ...the "he" is the present tense of the auxiliary verb Haber and hecho is the past participle of Hacer. The present perfect tense (have done) is formed with the present tense of Haber+the past participle of the main verb (in our case Hacer).

We are studying the Preterito Perfecto and my answer has got to be related to this I think. Im lost . Thankyou any way - PaulWil, Mar 23, 2011

Answer 5

Or:

No he estado nunca en Japón.

No he viajado nunca a Japón.