Coffee Break Spanish - CBS 2.25 | When to use the perfect tense and irregular verbs

Episode Date: November 1, 2010

In lesson 25 of Coffee Break Spanish Season 2 we’re continuing to look at the perfect tense. In this lesson you’ll learn about particular uses of the perfect tense, and about certain words or expressions which act as triggers for the tense. You’ll also learn some verbs which have irregular past participles. Please note that lesson 25 of Season 2 was originally known as lesson 225 of Coffee Break Spanish. We have renumbered the lessons of each season as lessons 1-40 to make things more simple for our listeners.This season of Coffee Break Spanish features a total of 40 lessons, all of which will be included in the podcast feed. Just stay subscribed to the podcast to enjoy each episode. If you’d like to benefit from video versions, lesson notes and bonus audio materials, you can access the premium version of Coffee Break Spanish in the Coffee Break Academy.Don’t forget to follow Coffee Break Spanish on Facebook where we post language activities, cultural points and review materials to help you practise your Spanish. Remember - a few minutes a day can help you build your confidence in the language. Access the Coffee Break Spanish Facebook page here.If you’d like to find out what goes on behind the scenes here at Coffee Break Languages, follow @coffeebreaklanguages on Instagram.You can also check out our Coffee Break Spanish Twitter page and the Coffee Break Languages YouTube channel. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Alain de Minos, a coffee break Spanish. Welcome back to Coffee Break Spanish. It's lesson 65, and in this lesson, we're going to continue to look at the perfect tense. And we'll also be talking about the little word, yeah. Now, yeah is a tricky word to use sometimes. It generally means already, but there are some other idiomatic ways that yeah is used in Spanish. And you'll hear a couple of them in this lesson. Bueno, just that.

So to begin with Kara, you remember last week that we were looking at the formation of the perfect tense. It was made up of two things really. One was a part of the verb, Aver and the other. Can you remember what the other was? A past participle. Exactly. Now, just when we're talking about past participles, I've had an email from someone saying, why aren't you saying participle? Well, the fact is that in the UK, we say participle, and I believe in America, you say participle. It's still the same thing. Doesn't really matter which way you pronounce it. So we were talking about the past participle and let's just talk about the past

participle of an regular AR verb. If we take can'tar, what would be the past participle of can'tar? Cantado. Cantado. That A.D.O. ending. Cantado.

And let's take another example. Bailar. The past participle of Bailar. Bailado. Bailado. Exactly. So we've got A.D.O. The ending for AR verbs. And the ending for ER and IR verbs isn't ADO but IDO, I-D-O, I-do, I-do, I-do, exactly, and that's the same for both

ER and IR verbs. So let's take an ER verb, bever to drink. That would become Bebido, and an IR verb, Bibir to live. Bibido. Bibido, exactly. So, AR becomes ADO, and ER and IR and I-R become IDO. So that's all very well for the past participle But what about the parts of Aver? Can you remember how that conjugates, Cara? Yeah, EASA, emos, abais, an

Yeah, EASA, emos, avais, and And they're joined together with the past participle. So let's try and see if we can do a little test here. I'll give you some things to translate into Spanish and see if you can work them out. They're all using regular verbs either ER or IR verbs. How would you say, I have danced?

And baillado. E ballado, very. Okay, let's try this one. How would you say, we have sung? Emos can'tado. Emo's can'tado. Very good. What about they have lived?

An bivido. And bivido. Very well. And using the two form, you have drunk a glass of water. Has pebido Agua? Has pebido

water, but has been a glass of water? A glass of water. A glass of water. A basso de water. A basso de agua. Can you remember the word that you would use for a glass when you're talking about a glass of wine?

No. A cupa. A cup. A cup. A cup. A cup of wine. A cup of wine. So how would you say, you have drunk a glass of wine?

Has pebido a cup of wine? Has pebido a cup of wine? Very well. Okay, let's try one more. She has learned Spanish. I've learned Spanish. You should, it's E, A, A, A, A, A, A, A aprendido Spanish. She has a.

A, a, a, apprendido Spanish. A aprendido Spanish. Okay, and that does suggest that she's learned the whole of the Spanish language, okay? A aprendido Spanish.

Okay, let's move on and let's talk a little about when you would actually use this tense. Last week, we talked about the fact that it's used to translate the to have done something concept. So I have done this, you have done that, and so on.

But there's another use of the perfect tense that is very, very common. So far, in Coffee Break Spanish, we've learnt the preterate tense and the imperfect tense and when we learned the preterate we thought of the preterate as a narrative tense something that tells a story in the past and this is indeed the case

however sometimes you can use the perfect tense to tell that same story and this is particularly connected to certain phrases some key phrases that often suggest the immediate past are things like a year yesterday a noce last night this morning

and so on so when you've got these key phrases very often you need to think about the perfect tense as opposed to the preterate let's try this if you wanted to translate this morning I sang a song so using the perfect tense how would you say that cara this morning

I can'tad a can'tad exactly this manna he can'tad a can't you could get away with saying

this morning that's using the preterate tense and you wouldn't use that in certain parts of the Spanish speaking world however

if you want to be ultra correct then you should use the perfect tense because in a way this morning is linked in some way to the present

This morning is only this morning because today is today, if that makes sense. This manana, I've canted a cancione. So let's take another example. Let's use the word, ayer. Ayer means yesterday. Yesterday. And again, yesterday is only yesterday because today is today. Yeah?

Yeah. So, yesterday I ate paella. Ayer I'm I comeido paella Ayer Ecomido paella Exactly

So E comido is the perfect tense I have eaten And notice that You wouldn't translate that in English As I have eaten

Because even if we're talking about yesterday In English You would say I ate Yesterday I ate Paella Ayer

I'm eaten Paella Again Comei Paella in the preterate tense Would make

perfect sense, people would understand what you were talking about, but again, if you want to be very correct, then you can use the perfect tense in this way to refer to an immediate past. Indeed, the perfect tense is often called the present perfect because it has this link to the present. So let's run through these phrases that are your key phrases for the use of the perfect tense or the present perfect tense. We started with esta manana. This ma'ana. This manana means

This morning Yeah Equally if we're now in the evening We could say This ta'clock So esta tarde If we're referring to the past When we're in the evening

We would be talking about This afternoon This afternoon, exactly So esta manana, this ta'clocke It could be yesterday Ayer Ayer Or it could be

Last night And that's a noce Anoche So how would you say last night I went out with my friends. A noche I solido with my amigos.

A noche is from Salido, Anoche has salido with my amigos again.

A noche I've salido with my amigos. Exactly. So that's anoche

a year. We could even talk about La Semana Pasada. La Semana Pasada. Which means last week. Last week, yeah.

Again, it means last week because this week is this week. So it's still this idea of referring to a past that's related in some way to the present. So la semana pasta, we visited Madrid. So last week we visited Madrid. Another phrase that is similar in this situation is Ace dos semanas. Ace dos seminas. What would that mean?

Two weeks ago? Yeah, two weeks ago. So, Ace dos semanas, two weeks ago. And again, that's referring in a way to the present. Ace dos semanas

is linked to just now. Ace two weeks ago from now, has been the course. You began the course. Ace two

semanas, has been the course. Ace two semanas, has has been the course?

After two semanas, has started the course. Very well. Now, I want to stress something here and that is

that this perfect tense, first of all, is used in lots of places where Spanish is spoken, but sometimes the preterate

would be used. And for that reason, if you want to use the preterate, then people will understand exactly what you say,

what you're saying. If you say, for example, this maniana I'm going to the market. This morning I went to the market. People will understand perfectly what you mean. In a sense, it's maybe like the English saying,

this morning I did go to the market. That might sound a little strange, but people understand what it means. However, if you want to be ultra-correct, then you should try to use the perfect tense. And it is very easy to use, because once you've got the pass participle and the part of Aler, then you've got the perfect tense.

Okay, we'll be back in just a moment. Now, if you'd like to get more out of your coffee break Spanish experience, then you can sign up for the full premium version of our course, and that includes video versions of our lessons, where you'll see the words and phrases on the screen of your device while you listen. There's also a set of lesson notes for every lesson, with vocabulary and additional examples, and bonus audio. All of our premium courses are,

available at the coffee break academy that's at coffeebreakacademy.com okay let's get on with the lesson so so far we've seen two examples of where you use the perfect tense today we've been talking about this immediate past this very recent past when we've been looking at key phrases a year anote la semana pasada a de dos semanas esta tarde and so on we've also looked at the situation where we're translating specifically, I have done something. And I'm just going to add to this just now by introducing the word yeah. Yeah. Y, A.

Yeah. Do you know what yeah means, Kara? Because it are things like yeah is that? Yeah, exactly. Yeah literally means already. So if you want to ask someone, have you already eaten, you would say, yeah has comeido. Yeah, ask comido.

yeah is comido so the yeah and the ass are running together yeah has comeido so have you already eaten some people say that in Scotland or in certain parts of Scotland people go and visit other people in their house and they begin with you'll have had your tea

so yeah's the nado yeah that's maybe a little Scottishism but we'll not go into that too much in case we'll offend people. So, yeah plus the perfect tense, to have already done something. So how would you say I have already

drunk a glass of water? Yeah I have bebido a glass of water? Yeah, I've a bevido, an basso

the water, exactly. Yeah, I've I've been a basso de agua or what about I have already visited Spain

yeah I visitado Spain exactly so it's yeah plus the perfect tense and it's

this idea to have already done something yeah I visited Spain even if you

leave out the yeah then there's still an idea of to have already done something

I visit Spain I've visited Spain and it's kind of same as saying, lae visit Spain. I've already

visited Spain. Okay, let's look at one other thing before we finish here, and that is irregular past participles. Just like in other tenses, some verbs are irregular in the perfect tense, and that's really because they have irregular past

participles. Note that always, always, always, a ver stays the same. So you always say a a a most a base and that's always the same and in the perfect tense it's the past participle which sometimes is irregular and we're going to look at a few common irregular verbs here let's begin with a arir abrid is a very common i r verb it means to open yeah but you don't say abrido taking the ear off and adding idio you say aberto Aberto.

Abrieto. Yeah, and you may well have come across the word aberto, which would mean open on, for example, a shop window. Aberto, the opposite being cerrado. Now, cerrado comes from

to close, and it's a pass participle. And notice here that the past participle takes on an adjectival meaning. So, serrado, closed, aberto, open. Aberto. Aberto. Abiento.

So how would you say I have opened the window? E abjerto la ventana. E abjerto la ventana, perfecto. Okay, another irregular is D'Ecyr. Decir means... To say? Yep, and D'iir becomes Dicho.

Dichio. Dich, that really is quite irregular, that one. So how would you say, have you said? As Dichio. As Dicho. Now, Dichio, just when we're talking about this, You could say, for example, if you're trying to pronounce a word, you could say, lo e did itchobien.

Lo e didichobien. This is a good way of practicing your Spanish and getting better at your Spanish pronunciation. If you're reading a word and you try to pronounce it, and then you say, lo e dicho bien? Lo e did it have I said well? Did I say it correctly? Lo he did you bien? Lo did you bien?

Okay. Dicho coming from D'Ecer to say Another one link to saying and expressing would be Escribier meaning to write and Escribier in the perfect tense or the past participle of Escribier

is Eskrito Eskrito Eskrito How would you say then We have already written the letter Yeah have written

the card very yeah we've written the card yeah

we've written the card okay so that's to write

becoming written to make to do or to make. That's it. And in the perfect

tense the past participle of a is etcho etch

so I have done my homework. Did you remember the word for homework? Los deveres? Okay, so my homework would be my de verres. I have done my homework. Echho my de verres?

Very well. How would you say I've already done my homework? Yeah, I've etcho my de verres. Yeah, I've done my de verres. Very well. So we've had Abri, becoming Abrito, Deciar, becoming Dichio. which became Escrito

Ather Echio Let's do One more Let's take M-Ber Bair means To see

Now Bair becomes Bisto Bisto That's V-I-S-T-O So how would you say I have seen the film

I Bisto La Pelicula Very well How would you say This morning we saw the monument. This morning we've

seen the monument the monument the monument this morning we've seen the monumento this

manna we've seen the monument okay that's where we're going to leave it today

and that's where we're going to leave it today for this edition of coffee break Spanish. Thanks for

joining us and we hope it's been useful. You can join the coffeebreak Spanish community on Facebook at facebook.com slash coffeebreak Spanish and follow at Learn Spanish on Twitter. Much grazie, and hasta pronto. This is a production of the Radiolingua Network. Find out more at radiolingua.com.