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Lección 22

Present Perfect in Spanish. Cardinal and Ordinal Numbers

La cita

José ha pasado treinta días en el balneario y ha regresado sano y fuerte, ha saludado a sus padres y en seguida se ha escapado de la casa. En la calle le esperaba ya María.
— ¿Adónde vamos, María? — pregunta José.
— Al parque — dice María — quiero hablar contigo.
— Bueno, María, por el camino puedes contarme cómo pasabas el tiempo durante mi ausencia. text translation
— Pues, trabajaba, estudiaba, ayudaba a mamá y pensaba en ti. Hoy también me he levantado muy temprano, he tomado rápidamente mi desayuno y con mamá hemos trabajado hasta las dos de la tarde. Después, ha llegado Juana y hemos hablado de ti; también hemos comprado flores y arreglado la casa para tu llegada. Y ahora estoy contigo en el parque y ya sabes todo. ¿O quieres saber más?
— No quiero saber nada más; te he escuchado y puedo escucharte más si quieres hablar. He esperado tanto este momento y ahora no sé que decirte...
— Pues bien, no vamos a hablar. Vamos a pasear solamente y escuchar el murmullo de los árboles, mirar el cielo, pensar en el porvenir, escuchar cómo cantan los pájaros, vamos a ver ...
— María...
— ¿Qué, José?
— ¿Hablamos o no hablamos?
— ¡Oh, perdóname! text translation

Vocablos

la cita appointment, meeting, date
  pasar to spend (time); to pass
el balneario resort, spa
  sano, -a healthy
  fuerte, -a strong
  saludar to greet, to say hello to; to salute
  en seguida at once, immediately, right away, straightaway
  escaparse to escape, to run away
  ¿adónde? where to?
  adonde where
  bueno, -a good; okay
  contar to tell
  durante during
la ausencia absence; lack
  pues well; then; thus, because etc.
  ayudar to help
  pensar to think
  temprano early
  arreglar to tidy (up); to arrange; to fix
  ya already; now
  nada nothing; anything
  bien well; okay
  solamente only, just
el murmullo murmur, whisper
el cielo sky
el porvenir future
  o or
  perdonar to forgive; to pardon

Notes

The meaning of words and expressions

¿adónde? adonde

 

¿Adónde vas?

Where are you going?

 

Voy adonde vas tú

I’m going where you’re going

The meaning of the preposition

 

el color de la casa

the color of the house

 

salir de casa

to get out of the house

 

regresar del balneario

to return from the resort

 

de ti

about you / of you

The preposition de is similar to the English ‘of’, but can be translated as ‘from’ and ‘about’ as well. Remember: to think about is pensar en.

bien, bueno

The word bien is an adverb that means well, okay. As an adverb, bien is usually used with a verb or an adjective, for example:

 

Tú estudias bien.

You study well.

If bien is used on its own, then bueno is used instead of bien, but also as an adverb, for example:

 

¿Quieres ir al teatro?
Bueno.

Do you want to go to the theatre?
Okay / All right.

durante, mientras

Durante during is usually goes before a noun. Before a verb, mientras while is used, for example:

 

durante la comida

during the meal

 

mientras comía

while I was eating

Memorize the expressions:

 

en seguida

at once

 

de la casa

of/from the house

 

pasar el tiempo

to spend time

 

nada más

nothing more

 

pues bien

well; okay then; all right; now etc.

 

perdóneme Vd.

forgive me (polite form)

Grammar points

1. Present Perfect Compound (pretérito perfecto compuesto)

 

José ha regresado.

Jose has returned.

 

Hemos comprado.

We have bought.

Present Perfect Compound of the indicative mood (pretérito perfecto compuesto de indicativo) is similar to the English Present Perfect, but not the same, as you may already notice. It expresses a complete action that has not yet ended at the time of speaking, for example: today, this week, this year.

Present Perfect Compound is also used if the result of the action happened in the past or the action itself is still felt in the present, at the time of speaking, for example:

Hablo español, porque he estado en España.

I speak Spanish, because I have been to Spain.

(i.e. I was in Spain a long time ago, but because I was there I still speak Spanish now).

Present Perfect Compound is formed with the help of the auxiliary verb haber in the present tense and the past participle of the conjugated verb (participio pasivo, lit.: passive participle).

Note:

The verb haber to have is usually used only as the auxiliary verb, not in its main lexical meaning. The verb tener is used in the meaning to have.

The impersonal form hay there is, there are, that you already know, is formed from the verb haber.

The conjugation of the auxiliary verb haber in the present tense (presente):

haber
singular   plural
1. he   hemos
2. has   habéis
3. ha   han

Spanish participles are verb forms that can be used to form compound verbs or which can be used as adjectives.

The past participle is formed from the infinitive form of a verb by adding the ending -ado for the verbs of conjugation I, for example:

 

hablar — hablado

to talk — talked

 

comprar — comprado

to buy — bought

 

preguntar — preguntado

to ask — asked

The participle without the auxiliary verb behaves like an adjective, i.e. agrees with the noun in gender and number, for example:

 

lavado

washed (m.)

 

lavada

washed (f.)

 

lavados

washed (pl.)

When with the auxiliary verb, there is nothing to agree with, for example:

 

he lavado

I have washed

 

hemos lavado

we have washed

The conjugation of the verbs in Present Perfect Compound:

Pretérito perfecto
tomarto take
singular plural
1. he tomado I have taken hemos tomado we have taken
2. has tomado you have taken habéis tomado you have taken
3. ha tomado (s)he has taken han tomado they have taken

Interrogative form:

singular plural
1. ¿he tomado yo? have I taken? ¿hemos tomado nosotros? have we taken?
2. ¿has tomado tú? have you taken? ¿habéis tomado vosotros? have you taken?
3. ¿ha tomado él? has (s)he taken? ¿han tomado ellos? have they taken?

Negative form:

singular plural
1. no he tomado I haven’t taken no hemos tomado we haven’t taken
2. no has tomado you haven’t taken no habéis tomado you haven’t taken
3. no ha tomado (s)he hasn’t taken no han tomado they haven’t taken

The conjugation of the reflexive verb lavarse Present Perfect Compound:

Pretérito perfecto
lavarseto wash (oneself)
singular plural
1. me he lavado I have washed myself nos hemos lavado we have washed ourselves
2. te has lavado you have washed yourself os habéis lavado you have washed yourselves
3. se ha lavado he has washed himself se han lavado they have washed themselves

Interrogative form:

singular plural
1. ¿me he lavado (yo)? ¿nos hemos lavado (nosotros)?
2. ¿te has lavado (tú)? ¿os habéis lavado (vosotros)?
3. ¿se ha lavado (él)? ¿se han lavado (ellos)?

Negative form:

singular   plural
1. no me he lavado   no nos hemos lavado
2. no te has lavado   no os habéis lavado
3. no se ha lavado   no se han lavado

Now, note the difference between Pretérito perfecto in Spanish and Present perfect in English.

In Spain, Pretérito perfecto is used if the speaker is ‘still inside’ the ‘unit of time’ that’s being used or implied. These ‘units of time’ are today, this week, this month or this year.

Thus, the English Past simple is also used to translate the Spanish Pretérito perfecto into English, because the ‘units of time’ are not the same in these two languages (and pretérito means past actually). Compare:

Hoy también me he levantado muy temprano...
Today I also got up very early...

In Latin America, however, the usage of Pretérito Perfecto Compuesto is more similar to the English Present Perfect and, therefore, easier to understand. Unfortunately, this self-study book isn’t focused on Spanish in Latin America.

2. Cardinal and Ordinal Numbers 1—100

Cardinal Numbers

 

0 cero
1 uno, una
2 dos
3 tres
4 cuatro
5 cinco
6 seis
7 siete
8 ocho
9 nueve
10 diez
11 once
12 doce
13 trece
14 catorce
15 quince
16 dieciséis (diez y seis)

17 diecisiete
18 dieciocho
19 diecinueve
20 veinte
21 veintiuno
22 veintidós
30 treinta
31 treinta y uno
40 cuarenta
41 cuarenta y uno
50 cincuenta
60 sesenta
70 setenta
80 ochenta
90 noventa
100 ciento, cien

a. Cardinal numbers from 16—30 have two written forms:

  1. tens and units are written in one word, for example:

     

    dieciséis

    sixteen

     

    diecisiete

    seventeen

  2. three words, i.e. tens, conjunction y and units, for example:

     

    diez y seis

    sixteen

     

    diez y nueve

    nineteen

Note:

The conjunction y is used only between the tens and the units.

For numbers above thirty, tens and units are written separately.

b. The number ciento hundred before a noun or an adjective gets the shortened form — cien, for example:

ciento dos one hundred (and) two
cien árboles one hundred trees

Ordinal Numbers

1. primero, -а 17. decimoséptimo, -а
2. segundo, -а 18. decimoctavo, -а
3. tercero, -а 19. decimonono, -а
4. cuarto, -а 20. vigésimo, -а
5. quinto, -а 21. vigésimo primero
6. sexto, -а   vigésima primera
7. séptimo, -а 22. vigésimo segundo
8. octavo, -а   vigésima segunda
9. noveno, -а 30. trigésimo, -a
10. décimo, -а 40. cuadragésimo, -a
11. undécimo, -а 50. quincuagésimo, -a
12. duodécimo, -а 60. sexagésimo, -a
13. decimotercio, -а 70. septuagésimo, -a
14. decimocuarto, -а 80. octogésimo, -a
15. decimoquinto, -а 90. nonagésimo, -a
16. decimosexto, -а 100. centésimo, -a

a. Ordinal numbers in Spanish are used only to ten. From 10 and above cardinal numbers are used instead of ordinal numbers, for example:

 

en la tercera página

on the third page

but:

en la página doce

on the twelfth page

b. before ordinal numbers the definite article is usually used, for example:

 

el primero, la primera

the first

 

el tercero, la tercera

the third

Exercises

I. Form Present Perfect Compound from the following verbs:

 

trabajar

ayudar

escaparse

yo

él

nosotros

usted

ella

vosotros

Clave

II. Form the necessary tense forms from the verbs below:

 

Presente

Pretérito imperfecto

Pretérito perfecto

escuchar: yo

estudiar: tú

esperar: nosotros

arreglar: Vd.

Clave

III. Translate into English:

José у María han paseado hoy por el parque y han hablado mucho. La verdad es que ha hablado María, y José ha escuchado solamente. Cuando María ha terminado, ya era tarde y han regresado a casa. En casa, José ha recordado que quería decir muchas cosas a María, pero María ya no estaba con él.

Clave

IV. Translate into Spanish:

I always return home at 9 o’clock. When I was at the resort, I would return early. When I returned home (use PPC and stay within this time frame), I greeted my mother and kissed her. My mother gave me an excellent meal. Then I washed myself, shaved, helped my father with (lit.: in) the work and when I finished, I remembered that I didn’t think about Maria.

Clave