Present Perfect in Spanish. Cardinal and Ordinal Numbers

La cita

— Bueno, María, por el camino puedes contarme cómo pasabas el tiempo durante mi ausencia.

— ¡Oh, perdóname!

Vocablos

Notes

The meaning of words and expressions

¿adónde? adonde

The meaning of the preposition dе

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:

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

durante, mientras

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

Memorize the expressions:

Grammar points

1. Present Perfect Compound (pretérito perfecto compuesto)

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:

(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):

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:

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

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

The conjugation of the verbs in Present Perfect Compound:

Interrogative form:

Negative form:

The conjugation of the reflexive verb lavarse Present Perfect Compound:

Interrogative form:

Negative form:

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

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

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

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

Exercises

I. Form Present Perfect Compound from the following verbs:

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

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.

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.