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| Tenses and Time |
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As you can see in the following constructions, Argentine Spanish diverges significantly when it comes to verb tenses and time. Pay special note to expressions that refer to the present. Argentines have a rather casual sense of the immediate present. Everything has a slightly slow motion, or delayed effect, when compared to the American sense of time. Ya (literally = "already") means "right now", and ahora (literally = "now") usually means "in a minute". Looking at it from another, more Latin point of view, we Americans can be a bit impatient. This dynamic makes itself especially conspicuous in, for example, a customer service-type situation. An American may not be as acustommed to waiting in line as their Argentine counterpart (see hacer cola). Things can get a bit hairy when the waiting occurs and there?s no line. You can never be sure what an employee is really doing, but you think you know when they?re not attending to YOU. I?ll refrain from making lengthy commentary on the recent conversion from a socialist economy and confine myself to some practical advice: always try politeness first, expect and even demand good service if you so desire, but DO NOT be shocked when you are called a yanqui impaciente (see yanqui).
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The general time categories do not correspond to the names or technical grammar of the tenses, rather to the actual meaning as it is used. For those grammar fanatics out there I?ve included a few of the corresponding Spanish and English tense names. Several of these constructions are not exclusive to Argentina. Like vocabulary, grammar has regional variation, but the Argentines definitely take the cake on creative, or shall we say liberal verb usage. |
| Following is the format of the tense descriptions...
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| generic construction using hacer in 3rd sing.
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| {grammatical Spanish name} |
| (standard Spanish equivalent) |
| = American equivalent |
| [grammatical English name] |
| example translation / alternate translation |
| Comments.
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| generic construction using hacer in 3rd sing.
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| {grammatical Spanish name} |
| (standard Spanish equivalent) |
| = American equivalent |
| [grammatical English name] |
| example translation / alternate translation |
| Comments.
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| Near Present |
| está por hacer
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 he?s about to |
| está por llegar he?s about to arrive |
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| ya hace
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| (right now) he?s doing |
| ya llega he?s arriving |
| Can be emphasized by repetition: ya, ya / right this instant. |
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| ahora hace |
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| (in a second, minute) he?ll do |
| ahora llega he?ll arrive in a minute |
| This form causes the most frustration. What most foreigners literally interpret as "now" (and it seems to be a logical translation, since ahora does mean "now") actually means "in a second", "in a minute" or even "in a few minutes" (you get the idea). |
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después hace
= later
después te cuento / I?ll explain later
Another cause of confusion, después is literally "after" and often leaves foreigners wondering "after what?" The literal translation of "later" is luego, which Argentines very rarely use (see hasta lueguito).
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recién hace
(acaba de hacer)
= just did (immediate past)
recién llega / he just arrived
The past version of this form is...
recién hacía
recién llegaba / he had just arrived
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recién hizo
= just, a little while ago, recently (recent past)
recién llegó / he arrived a little while ago
The past version of this form is...
recién había hecho
recién había llegado / he had recently arrived
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está haciendo
(ha estado haciendo)
= has been doing (lately)
está trabajando mucho / he has been working alot lately
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| Future
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va a hacer
(hará)
= going to
va a llegar el lunes / he?s going to arrive Monday
Argentines almost never use the simple future tense (hará), except to sound formal or ironic.
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hace
= going to do (plans)
llega el lunes / he?s arriving on Monday
el sábado tenemos una fiesta / we?re going to a party on saturday night
This form is typically used with tener to denote future plans. Note the second example: "to throw a party" is hacer una fiesta, whereas tener una fiesta is "to have a party (to go to)".
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hace
= will do (instantaneous decisions)
ahí voy / I?ll be right there
yo voy / I?ll go / I?m going
Simple present is used both for decisions made on the spur of the moment and for plans that have already been decided (see above).
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| Past
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Note that Argentines have various different constructions to replace the present perfect (ha hecho), which they don?t use. The flexible past imperfect (hacía) is the jack-of-all-trades of Argentine grammar. It?s easy enough to learn the two conjugations (-ar and -ir/-er), and once you?ve got it down you can throw it in just about anywhere you?re not really sure how to say something about the past. I highly recommend it!
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¿habrá hecho?
{futuro perfecto, futuro de probabilidad
= I wonder, do you think?
¿habrá llegado? / you think he arrived? / has he arrived? / I wonder if he arrived
Strangely enough, this construction is for talking about recent past events when we don?t know the answer yet. The future perfect is employed, literally referring to the moment in the future when we will find out.
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hacía
(solía hacer)
= used to, before
antes llegaba a las once / he used to arrive at eleven
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hacía
(iba a hacer, hubiese hecho)
= was doing, was going to do, was supposed to do, (if) did
llegaba a las once / he was supposed to arrive at eleven
Generally refers to the future possibility of an action, from the point of view of the past. This construction is very common and can be used regardless of whether the action is later fulfulled or not. To speculate what would have happened had a possible action occurred (but that didn?t occur), you should technically employ the 3rd (impossible) conditional (which requires subjunctive). Compare:
si no hubiese llegado a las once, nos hubieramos ido / if he hadn?t arrived at eleven, we would?ve left
si no llegaba a las once, nos ibamos / if he didn?t arrive at eleven, we were going to leave
This is one of the many examples of how Argentine language is shockingly incorrect for other Spanish speakers. American English has a similarly simplistic view of grammar compared to the British. Argentine grammar is horrendous, but it?s easier to speak!
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hizo
(ha hecho)
= have done, did
¿probaste? / have you tried it?/ did you ever try it?
Where the British use exclusively present perfect (have done), the Americans often use simple past (did). Argentines almost never use the present perfect (ha hecho). Chalk another up for easy, bad grammar!
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siempre/nunca hizo
(ha hecho)
= always/never have done, did
siempre hice así / I?ve always done it like that
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hace
(ha hecho)
= have done, have been doing (past up to and including present)
hace dos años que vivo acá / I?ve lived here for two years, I?ve been living here for two years
yo vivo acá desde hace 1997 / I?ve lived here since ?97 / I?ve been living here since ?97
This is the construction for denoting an action that started in the past and still continues or is still true in the present. In English we use present perfect (have done) usually acompanied by "since" or "for".
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había hecho
= did (explanation)
me había olvidado / I forgot (I?d forgotten)
Generally giving an explanation (the cause of some resulting event). It is a simple past event (the cause) but one that refers to something else in the past (the result). Technically this is the same in English (past perfect), but we Yankees use simple present.
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(casi) hace
= almost did
casi me caigo / I almost fell
no no, me muero / I almost died (I couldn?t believe it)
This form is a relative of the common practise in English of reverting to simple present tense when telling a story. When the frame of reference is established (or assumed), you can jump right into present tense. The two examples illustrate frequent uses that would still be past tense in English.
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Last updated 11/14/2005 |
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