Past Participle vs Preterite

Question

What is the difference between the past participle and the preterite and when would I use one over the other? Are they the same?

Is,

Oí la fiesta fue divertido.

The same as,

Oído la fiesta fue divertido.

Muchas Gracias!

Welcome to the forum! "He oido que la"...."Oí que la..." - --Mariana--, Mar 22, 2012

Answer 1

Dear Tofortier: Take two aspirins and open your grammar. You're about to enter one of the difficult zones of Spanish learning, talking about the past.

They are not the same. From now on your life will become enriched by doubts as you wil also discover the imperfect.

To make it very simple; The preterite deals with happenings in the past that were one time happenings and are finished with.

The imperfect deals with things that used to happen, that you did regularily or that you were doing when something else interupted your other action.

Haber + the past participle are used for things in the more recent past that may still be going on. it is also used a lot by learners like me because it's the easiest way to put things in the past, until you learn the others.

This is very simplified and a better grammatician will probably explain it better. But it takes quite a while to absorb and understand it. I don't yet.

Very good luck in your studies!

Answer 2

The past participle needs to have the 'helper' verb haber.

He oído que la fiesta fue divertida. (I have heard...)

¿Has escuchaste cómo fue la fiesta? (Have you heard....)

So with the helper haber, do they mean the same thing? - tofortier, Mar 22, 2012

Basically they do mean the same thing, but there is a subtle difference. I have heard could mean multiple times, for example. I heard could mean I just heard it once. - Jack-OBrien, Mar 22, 2012

You've got a mix up there, Jack "Has odio" OR "Escuchaste." - --Mariana--, Mar 22, 2012

Or "has escuchado" - --Mariana--, Mar 22, 2012

Answer 3

Oí que la fiesta fue divertida.

He oído que la fiesta fue divertida