contrast.preterite-present-perfect

Comí vs he comido: a regional split

Spain: today's events take the perfect (hoy he comido tarde). Latin America: the preterite rules (hoy comí tarde); the perfect keeps experiences and still-open periods.

contrastB1Geprüftv0.1.0

Erklärung

Both tenses are correct everywhere; what differs is the default for recent, today's events. In Spain, things that happened today normally take the present perfect: hoy he comido tarde, esta mañana he ido al banco. In most of Latin America the preterite does that job: hoy comí tarde, ya llegué, ¿ya almorzaste?

To a Latin American ear, using the perfect for finished events of today (ya he comido, ¿has llegado ya?) sounds peninsular; to a Spanish ear, the bare preterite for 'just now' can sound abrupt. Neither is wrong — it's a regional default.

There is shared ground. Both regions use the present perfect for life experiences (¿alguna vez has probado…? — though LatAm also says ¿alguna vez probaste…?) and for still-open time frames: esta semana he tenido mucho trabajo, este año hemos viajado poco.

Beispiele

¿Ya almorzaste? (LatAm) / ¿Has almorzado ya? (Spain)
Have you had lunch yet?

Region: global

Nunca he estado en el Chaco.
I've never been to the Chaco.

Region: global

Nunca he estado en Asunción, pero el año pasado fui a Montevideo.
I've never been to Asunción, but last year I went to Montevideo.

Verwandte Regeln