has estado

Question

Please can someone explain this. Is it present tense? Or past tense with a grund?

I need to explain Has estado alguna vez en Londres. vs Estuvistes alguna vez en londres

Thanks

Welcome to the forum, :) - 00494d19, Jan 19, 2012

Welcome to the forum. =) -- Estuviste** - NikkiLR, Jan 20, 2012

Answer 1

Estado is the past participle of estar, and so means "been".

Has is present tense, 2nd person singular of haber = to have.

Has = you have.

Estado = been.

You have been.

See the conjugation for both words here: http://www.spanishdict.com/conjugate/

Estuviste means: You were.

So the difference is "You have been" vs "you were".

Great :) - FELIZ77, Jan 19, 2012

Thanks - so much for making the effort to help me. Very appreciated. - vic5x5, Jan 19, 2012

Answer 2

It's present perfect. Look at the conjugation table for estar.

The closest in English is "you have been".

Estuvistes is spelled wrong. That would be Estuviste, preterite (simple past tense of completed action).

Great explanation, Pesta: accurate, clear and simple :) - - FELIZ77, Jan 19, 2012

Thanks - so much for making the effort to help me. and for correcting my mistake with estuvistes - vic5x5, Jan 19, 2012

Answer 3

Has estado alguna vez en Londres.

Present perfect, pretérito perfecto, to have /haber + participle/participio

vs Estuvistes alguna vez en londres

Past simple, pretérito perfecto simple or pretérito

Welcome to the forum

:) - FELIZ77, Jan 19, 2012

Thanks so much - very clear now. You are very clever. Thanks for making the effort to answer me - vic5x5, Jan 19, 2012

pretérito perfecto compuesto vs pretérito perfecto simple - 0074b507, Jan 19, 2012

Answer 4

Your are right gringojrf, but in Spanish the use of each verb tense is different than that in English. In Spanish, the temporary markers (marcadores temporales) is very important in determining what kind of verb tense you should use. Some of the temporary markers used for Pretérito Perfecto are: esta semana, este martes, este mes, últimamente, desde le martes, ..etc, so the Pretérito Perfecto could be used to express action that ended in the actual space (espacio actual en español). Some of the temporary merkers used for Pretérito Simple are: ayer, anoche, la semana pasada, el mes pasado, hace dos días, en 1990, ...etc.

For example, if today is Friday and I want to talk about a visit I did last Tuesday; if I use the temporary marker (este martes) then I should use Pretérito Perfecto (he visitado), but if I use the temporary marker (el martes pasado) then I should use the Pretérito Simple (visité)

Answer 5

But when you use the the Pretérito Perfecto (Has estado ...)

Has estado is the present perfect not the past perfect.

Estuviste = you were;
Has estado = you have been

• Estuviste en londres hace un año. You were in London a year ago.
• Has estado en londres pero no has estado in París. You have been in London but have not been in Paris.

---

Answer 6

Hi,

From grammer point-of-view, both sentences are correct, but each one means something different in the past.

When you use the Pretérito Simple (Estuviste ...) it means that the action (Estar in this case) has been started and finisheded in the past and has no relation with the present time. But when you use the the Pretérito Perfecto (Has estado ...) it means that the action (Estar in this case) has been started BUT not finished in the current space (Escapcio actual) which -not exclusively- include, today (hoy), this week (esta semana), this summer (este verano), and even in you life (en tu vida) .... [refer back to the References section to learn more about the meanings of each type] ...

In your sentence, since you use (alguna vez) which means one-time in the past (finished), my opinion is that you should use the Pretérito Simple (Estuviste alguna vez en londres) ....