Term
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Definition
| A past tense is any tense indicating time gone by or some former action or state. There are four main indicate past tenses in Spanish |
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Term
Preterit (Pretérito)
This tense shows that an event was completed at the time of speaking. It is equivalent to I spoke or I did speak |
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Definition
Gloria comió pescado ayer - Gloria ate fish yesterday
Bebimos mucho café ayer - We drank a lot of coffee yesterday |
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Term
The Imperfect Tense: Imperfecto de indicativo
This tense is used to indicate incomplete, continued, or customary past actions. English has no 'true' imperfect tense, but some constructions, such as she was studying and he used to study render the meaning of imperfect verbs in Spanish in a fairly accurate way |
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Definition
Reinaldo comía pescado muchas veces - Reinaldo used to eat fish often
Viajábamos a España muchas veces - We used to travel to Spain often |
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Term
| The present perfect: he Perfecto de indicativo - is used to indicate an action that was completed prior to the present tme and that has some bearing on the present time. It is equivalent to I have gone, I have returned |
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Definition
Teresa ha ido a Venezuela. - Teresa has gone to Venezuela
Ellos han estudiado mucho en casa - They have studied a lot at home |
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Term
The pluperfect: pluscuamperfecto de indicativo (past perfect)
Used to indicate that an action was completed prior to some other action that may be implied or expressed in a sentence. It is equivalent to I had talked, I had eaten |
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Definition
Salvador había perdido las llaves - Salvador had lost the keys
Habías encontrado a tu amigo en el centro cuando estabas en el parque |
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Term
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Definition
| The present perfect and the pluperfect (past perfect) are compound tenses. This means that they are verbs constructed of two part; an auxiliary verb and a past particple. |
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