¿Cómo se dice? "Have been/Had been"

Question

I know the use of preterit tenses. But with English we use "Have been" or "had been"

For the sentence "I have been learning a lot."
I have seen similar examples of " He estado aprendiendo mucho." and "He aprendido mucho." (Or maybe wrong completely.)

Which would be correct?

¡Gracias!

Answer 1

I know the use of preterit tenses. But with English we use "Have been" or "had been"

For the sentence "I have been learning a lot."

I have seen similar examples of " He estado aprendiendo mucho." and "He aprendido mucho." (Or maybe wrong completely.)

Which would be correct?

¡Gracias!

I've been leaning a lot => He estado aprendiendo mucho.
I've learned a lot => He aprendido mucho.

Answer 2

So both are literally correct, but "He aprendido mucho" would be the best option if speaking to a Spanish speaker?

Yes, I think that would probably sound more natural, or at least would come up more frequently among native speakers. Say you are studying abroad and writing home. Where you might write "I've been learning a lot," a Spanish speaker might just say it as you do above.

The same applies to other constructions. We often say "How have you been'," but this is more often "¿Cómo estás'" rather than "¿Cómo has estado'"

Answer 3

Both are correct and have the meanings given by Guillermo, but keep in mind that the "have been doing" construction is used MUCH more often in English than the "haber estado haciendo" construction is in Spanish. That is, that English is often translated differently into natural Spanish.

So both are literally correct, but "He aprendido mucho." Would be the best option if speaking to a Spanish speaker'

Answer 4

"He estado aprendiendo mucho." and "He aprendido mucho." (Or maybe wrong completely.)

Which would be correct?

Both are correct and have the meanings given by Guillermo, but keep in mind that the "have been doing" construction is used MUCH more often in English than the "haber estado haciendo" construction is in Spanish. That is, that English is often translated differently into natural Spanish.

Answer 5

I know the use of preterit tenses. But with English we use "Have been" or "had been"

For the sentence "I have been learning a lot."

I have seen similar examples of " He estado aprendiendo mucho." and "He aprendido mucho." (Or maybe wrong completely.)

Which would be correct?

¡Gracias!

The present perfect (you seem to be limiting yourself to the indicative mood so I will too) is usually rendered into English as to have+verb.

He visto...I have seen.
He vivido...I have lived.

But just as the present tense can be used for stating I do something or I am doing something the present perfect can likewise.

leo...I read
leo...I am reading
he leído...I have read
he leído...I have been reading.

The analogy continues...to emphasize that the action is taking place at this very moment you can use the present progressive (Yes, Lazarus, I remember your objection to that term, but we have to call it something and most English references call it the present progressive)
Estoy leyendo. I am reading (current action).
He estado leyendo. I have been reading.

To go further back into the past and express you can change haber from present tense to past tense.

había leído ...I had read or I had been reading **
hube leído...I had read or **I had been reading

había estado leyendo...I had been reading
hube estado leyendo...**I had been reading
**
I believe that there exists a he sido (ser) leyendo, but since I haven't studied the periphrasis forms that we mentioned the other day you'll have to ask someone else. había sido leyendo hube sido leyendo

This sounds logical to me, but I'm not a native and I can't tell you how these forms are actually used in practice. So in case this is a SWAG, wait until a native says OK or just laughs out loud.