Yo regresado vs Regresé

Question

If I wanted to say "I returned the movie on time" would it be "Yo regresado el película en tiempo." if this is correct is the "Yo" needed? or "Regresé el película en tiempo."

Muchas gracias por su ayudar.

Buena pregunta - avispao, Jan 23, 2013

Answer 1

For returning an object you need to use the verb "devolver." Also make sure that you use the correct article, "la" for película is correct. For "on time" we say "a tiempo."

Knowing those three tips, you can reconstruct your sentence: devolví la película a tiempo.

Finally, leave out "su" in your last sentence. Gracias por ayudar. You have the right ideas, it's just improvement now!

An extra note: you cannot say "yo regresado" (or any other verb). You're missing the word "haber" which is conjugated in that kind of sentence. "Yo he regresado" would be correct grammatically, but not for this particular sentence you are trying to translate. And no, saying "yo" is not required.

Hopefully that was all helpful, and thank you for your effort!

Good answer. - annierats, Jan 23, 2013

Just following up on unMica's answer, using the verb "devolver", you would say "He devuelto la película a tiempo." - sinmeta, Jan 23, 2013

Thumbs up now, read it later. Ya sé que está bien escrito. - avispao, Jan 23, 2013

Muy bien escrito - avispao, Jan 23, 2013

Why is the su left out? I wanted to say "Thank you for YOUR help" - biffjohnston, Jul 15, 2013

Answer 2

One source of your confusion stems from the fact that in English the past participle and the past tense are very commonly the same word. For example: "I returned the book" and "I have returned the book". Many times this leads English speakers to try the same thing in Spanish, but it is incorrect, since these two forms are very different.

Just be aware of this, and be on the lookout for it when you think of using the participle by itself.

También bien escrito - avispao, Jan 23, 2013