Use of verb tenses
What is the best way to learn how to use all tenses of verbs. I'm learning lots of vocabulary, but having trouble applying what I learn.
1 Answer
Oh, boy. Verb tenses in Spanish are really hard because of their many forms, particularly the imperfect which has distinct forms depending on the verb type (estar => estaba, but comer => comía) and, worse, the preterite which conjugates substantially differently than all the other tenses (and which has a set of "irregular" verbs that conjugate differently than all the other preterites).
To learn all the forms, just take the Spanish lessons here and consider carrying around page 3 of my Spanish Quick Reference which has the important conjugations of 25 verbs.
http://qism.blogspot.com/2011/06/spanish-quick-reference-updated.html
You should try to figure out conjugations in your mind first, and consult a conjugation table only if you are unsure.
Choosing tenses isn't actually that hard, until you get to the subjunctive versions (I still can't figure out when those are needed.) Usually there is a direct correspondence from English tenses to Spanish indicative tenses, with slight caveats.
- Present: I am happy => Estoy feliz
- Future: I will be happy => Yo estaré feliz
- Conditional: If I were rich, I would eat more => Si yo fuera rico, comería más (in this case, the English "were" becomes the Spanish subjunctive imperfect past tense "fuera", but the other part of the sentence "I would eat" becomes the conditional tense "comería" in Spanish.)
- Not really conditional: If he is rich, I will steal his wallet => Si él es rico, robaré su cartera (even though this sentence also uses the word "if", it is not what we call "conditional", so it uses ordinary present and future tenses.)
- When you use the helping verb "have" in English, whether it is spelled "has", "had", "will have", or "would have", it translates directly to the Spanish helping verb "haber": I have eaten => He comido; He has eaten => Él ha comido; I had eaten => Yo había comido, I would have eaten => Yo habría comido; I will have eaten => Habré comido.
The tricky part is the two past tenses. But you can usually use these rules of thumb:
- Past with "would" becomes imperfect: When I was a boy, I would ride my bike on Mondays => Cuando yo era niño, andaba mi bicicleta los lunes.
- Past with "was ___ing" also becomes imperfect: I was eating => Yo comía.
- Other cases become preterite: I ate => Comí.
When you are recounting the past, you typically have a time range in mind. For example, if I say "I was washing the dishes, when the phone rang..." the time range I have in mind starts just before the phone rings, but after I start washing dishes. You use the imperfect if the time range in your mind does not enclose the entire act that you are describing. Since the time range of my story does not include the beginning of the dishwashing, I must say "Yo lavaba los platos" (imperfect), not "Yo lavé los platos" (preterite).
Often, teachers do not explain the difference between imperfect and preterite correctly. For example, this was the first explanation I found on Google:
"Generally speaking, the preterite is used for actions in the past that are seen as completed. Use of the preterite tense implies that the past action had a definite beginning and definite end."
I think this definition is misleading. The act of washing dishes may be completed, and it may have had a definite beginning and a definite end, but I use the imperfect because the beginning of the act of washing dishes is missing from my story. The action did have a definite beginning, but the beginning is not part of the story. In other words, the choice between preterite and imperfect depends more on how you frame the story than on the action itself.
In a different story I may say "lavé" (preterite) instead: Ayer lavé los platos, contesté al teléfono y comí la cena (Yesterday I washed the dishes, I answered the phone and I ate dinner). It is the time range I am thinking about that determines whether I should use the preterite or the imperfect. Since the entire act of washing dishes is inside the time range "yesterday", I use the preterite in this case.
I am not totally sure, but I assume that "Ayer lavaba los platos" means that the action either started before yesterday, finished after yesterday, or was done on-and-off throughout the day (the action was broken into multiple parts).
Am I right everyone?
