Introduction
This
post deals with talking about the past
in general, and saying when
you did
your homework
in particular.
SCENARIO
Imagine
you are talking to
a relative, a friend or colleague. You are talking about your Spanish
homework. Hearing from you that you have completed your Spanish
homework, the other person
says: "when
did you do your homework?"
In
Spanish, the other person could choose to be less formal and say:
¿Cuándo
hiciste los deberes?
Alternatively,
he/ she could choose to be more formal and say:
¿Cuándo
hizo (usted) los deberes?
OUR
TIP
The question is an
invitation for you to say when you did your Spanish homework. When
you say when you did something something, you DO NOT
need to be concerned about the level of formality in the other
person's question.
Here are some
examples of how you could reply:
- Hice los deberes el lunes pasado (I did my homework last Monday)
- Hice los deberes el lunes pasado por la noche (I did my homework last Monday evening)
- Hice los deberes ayer (I did my homework yesterday)
- Hice los deberes ayer por la tarde (I did my homework yesterday afternoon)
- Hice los deberes anteayer (I did my homework the day before yesterday)
- Hice los deberes anteayer por la mañana (I did my homework the day before yesterday in the morning)
Notes
Talking
about the past
Please
note that the all the examples above refer to past actions
which were completed at a time which also belongs in
the past. In other words, the periods of time in which the
actions in the examples above were completed, i.e. last Monday/
yesterday/ the day before yesterday, are also in the past.
However,
sometimes you may wish to talk about past actions which were
completed at a time which in Spanish belongs in the
present. In other words, the period of time in which the
actions were completed is still ongoing. Examples of periods
of time which in Spanish belong in the present are: today/
this week/ this month/ this year/ etc. In such
cases, it is common to use an alternative form of referring to
completed actions, as follows:
- Hoy he hecho los deberes (today I have done my homework)
- Esta semana he hecho los deberes (this week I have done my homework)
- Este mes no he hecho los deberes (this month I have not done my homework)
Now
you should practise answering the question:
¿Cuándo
hiciste los deberes?
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lessons
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Copyright 2012 Love-Spanish.com
by Jose M González. All Rights Reserved.
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