Perfect Tenses
I am unsure how to use the perfect tenses to translate 'has been'.
For example, of course, it is straight forward to say something like ' he comido' = ' I have eaten', but if I want to say 'it has been raining', would that be 'ha llovido'? or perhaps 'ha estado llover'? or even 'ha estado lloviendo'?
Its the same with swimming. If I wanted to say 'we have been swimming', would that be 'hemos nadado, hemos estado nadar or hemos estado nadando'?
Gracias amigos 
7 Answers
A couple of comments:
Drvicente said:
El tren ya había salido cuando llegábamos=The train had already left when we were arriving.(Past perfect action occured "after" the imperfect action).
I believe that this should have read "before." That is, a past perfect action occurs before a given reference point. In this case, the reference point refers to the period in the past when the speaker (and those accompanying him) were arriving at the station. The train leaving, therefore, occurred before this event took place:
?—————————?
Train leaving
?———————————————?
Arriving at station
?——————————————————————————|————————————————————|——————?
Reference point Present
in the past
Future perfect is an action that the speaker denotes will have taken place (in the past) "before" another action has occured.
I think that some care might be necessary in regards to terminology in order to avoid any unnecessary confusion. The phrase "in the past" might be omitted altogether as the tense is squarely positioned in the future, i.e. neither event has yet occurred at the time the sentence is uttered. Therefore, it might be more accurate to revise the statement above as such: The future perfect describes an action that the speaker specifies will have taken place prior to another action having occurred.
Using the example given
Habré cenado antes de que ella llegue. I will have dined before she arrives.
?—————————?
Eating dinner
—————————?
Her arrival
?——————|—————————————————————————————————|——————?
Present Future
Reference
Point
The Hacer + time + que situation is completely different!
I'm not sure that I agree entirely with this characterization in regards to translatability.
In English, the present perfect (have done something) is used to report an action or state that began in the past but that extends or touches in some way on the present. The progressive form of the present perfect (have been doing something) is used in a similar way except that it emphasizes the continuity of the action and often its likelihood of continuing on into the future. The main things to recognize here are the aspectual nature of each tense and the fact that verb choice can have a bearing on what tense one chooses. A better understanding of this difference might be gained by comparing the subtle difference between these two statements:
(1) I have lived here for three years
(2) I have been living here for three years.
The first sentence announces that starting from a point three years ago and continuing into the present, the speaker has lived in the place specified. With this type of construction, there is no grammatical implication that this action will continue on into the future at all; however, in most cases (unless implied or stated otherwise), this verb choice will likely cause the listener to assume that this action or state will continue on—at least into the immediate future.
The second sentence, on the other hand, emphasizes the fact that the action is expected to continue on into the future. Because the action or state does not necessarily end in the present moment (i.e. at the time of utterance), there is often some overlap in usage that often occurs between these two tenses, and quite often, the semantic meaning of the verb tends to affect our choice.
In any case, time expressions (such as "hace + time" as mentioned above)that are coupled with verbs conjugated in tenses that are considered aspectually "imperfect" can often be translated by using the progressive form of the appropriate perfect tense. This can be seen in the last example given by Drvicente in one of his earlier posts:
Hacía + time + que + imperfect tense..
Hacía tres años que vivía en España. I was living (had been living) in Spain for three years.
Here, the semantic meaning of this expression can be ascertained by the following translations:
?I had been living in Spain for three years. ?For three years, I had been living in Spain.
To be certain, the past perfect could probably be used here without much difficulty as well:
?I had lived in Spain for three years.
However, because of the fact that the original Spanish sentence was conjugated in an aspectually imperfect tense, it would be more accurate to translate this using one of the sentences using the progressive.
Analogously, expressions using the "simple present tense" are also considered aspectually "imperfect," and are often more accurately translated using the progressive form of the present perfect. Again, because of the nature of the verb "vivir/live," the difference between the two might not be readily apparent:
Hace + time + que + present tense...
Hace tres años que vivo en España.=I have lived in Spain for three years.
As you can see, this sentence was translated by Drvicente using the present perfect; however, an equally valid and probably more accurate (in terms of grammar) translation might be made using the progressive form:
?Hace tres años que vivo en España.=I have been living in Spain for three years.
In this translation, the English verb tense coincides more closely to the aspectual nature of the Spanish verb "vivo." While at first blush, this may seem like splitting hairs, the subtle difference might be made apparent by using different verbs or by switching to indefinite time periods:
Hace dos horas que nieva
?It has been snowing for two hours. [progressive] ?It has snowed for two hours.
Hace mucho tiempo que tiro canastas
?I have been shooting hoops for a long time. [progressive] ?I have shot hoops for a long time.
I have eaten = He comido
I am eating = Estoy comiendo
I have been eating = He estado comiendo
It has rained = Ha llovido
It is raining = Está lloviendo
It has been raining = Ha estado lloviendo
We have swum = Hemos nadado
We are swimming = Estamos nadando
We have been swimming = Hemos estado nadando
The perfect tense is used in Spanish the same as we use it in English. The ONLY exception is when the Spanish use "hacer....que....time period! Essentially there are four perfect tenses: present perfect, past perfect, future perfect and conditional perfect and the subjunctive perfect "mood. How are the tenses used: the present perfect describes an action that started in the past and continued up to the present. He vivido aquí por tres años= I have lived here for three years (still going on). The past perfect describes an action that occured and was completed in the past and usually is "further" in the past than the imperfect or preterite: El tren ya había salido cuando llegábamos=The train had already left when we were arriving.(Past perfect action occured "after" the imperfect action). Future perfect is an action that the speaker denotes will have taken place (in the past) "before" another action has occured. Habré cenado antes de que ella llegue. I will have dined before she arrives. Conditional perfect is very similar as the "simple" conditional, it is restricted or limited by another action: Si hubiera tenido el dinero, habría ido a España= If he had had the money, he would have gone to Spain...etc. I hope this helps!
Hmm...I think that it might depend on context.
The perfect continuous can be formed by combining: (1) a conjugated form of the verb haber; (2) past participle of estar and (3) the main verb in gerundio form. For example:
?(1) He (2) estado (3) pensando en ti ? I have been thinking about you.
On the other hand, if a time expression is used, then other options are available. For example:
?Hace mucho (tiempo) que pienso en ti ? I have been thinking about you for a long time.
?Llevo dos semanas pensando en ti ? I have been thinking about you for 2 weeks.
The Hacer + time + que situation is completely different! Here are the major examples:
Hace + time + que + present tense...Hace tres años que vivo en España.=I have lived in Spain for three years.
Hace + time + que + preterite tense...Hace tres años que viví en España.= I had live in Spain for three years.
Hacía + time + que + imperfect tense..Hacía tres años que vivía en España. I was living (had been living) in Spain for three years.
This is a good question, I hope you get some good answers! I think, with the exception of time (for example: Hace dos años que nadamos) it is not used in the same way as we use it in English, at least with verbs. It seems to me that the preterite or the imperfect is more common. I'm looking forward to hearing from the experts!
Ha sido un placer. 
Gintar:
So am I correct in interpreting:
It has rained = Ha llovido (ie it was recently raining but now it has stopped)?
It is raining = Está lloviendo (it is currently raining)
It has been raining = Ha estado lloviendo. (ie it has been recently raining and it is still raining now)?
