preterite v present perfect

Question

In south america they use the preterite and in most of spanish spain they use the present perfect.so can anyone tell me when the spanish use the preterite and maybe some examples?

Answer 1

In Mexico and Central America they use both the preterit--

Comí una manzana hoy. (I ate an apple today)

And the past perfect--

Ya he comido dos manzanas hoy. (I have already eaten two apples today)

my tutor is from cuba and she says they almost always use the preterite and spanish use the preterite - warrenmarshall, Oct 30, 2011

Answer 2

They use it whenever the time being spoken about is till true, for example "this week" "this century" "this millennium" "today" So for example at 9 o clock at night I can still use the present perfect to say "We had an awful boring Spanish class this morning" Where as in English it needs to be the past simple because the class is over, in Spanish the more important thing is that it was THIS morning and not yesterday morning.

It does not matter if the action is finished, like does in English, so in English you would say "Frida Kahlo was one of the most important Artists of this millennium" because she is dead. That is the past simple, but in Peninsular Spanish you would use the present perfect here.

However as soon as the time period is finished "yesterday" "last week" "300 years ago" you swap to past simple in both English and Spanish.

It does not matter that "yesterday" was part of "this week" and "this millennium" what matters is which word you use in the sentence.

You also use the Present Perfect for life experience in both Spanish and English, but in English we use "ever" to stop you getting confused between "recently" and "in your life"

So when my friends dad asked me yesterday in Spanish "Have you made a cake?" he meant in my life, and not recently, and I was left confused.

think i understand but not sure i am much further forward - warrenmarshall, Oct 30, 2011

Rabbitwho. are u spanish. or are u a student too. The question about a cake is confusing. - goospite, Oct 30, 2011

i understand.depends how you were asked the cake question in spanish as to how it was meant(how it sounds to a spanish ear) - warrenmarshall, Oct 30, 2011