Unit 3

Compound Tenses, Progressives & Verb Phrases

Unit 2 gave you the five simple indicative tenses. This unit shows how Spanish builds everything else from them. Haber plus a participle gives five more indicative tenses. Estar plus a gerund gives the progressive in every tense. A small set of verbs plus an infinitive (ir a, acabar de, volver a, soler…) covers meanings English handles with adverbs. Then ser, estar and se make the passive. None of this means new endings. You recombine forms you already know, so the work here is choosing the right one. The exam rewards that choice. An argumentative essay that says los expertos han demostrado, or a cultural comparison that says antes de haber vivido allí, no había entendido…, is showing the “variety of structures” the top rubric band asks for.

1 · The haber system

So everything depends on haber. Here it is in every tense that builds a compound. The first five make the compound indicatives in this unit. The last four make the compound subjunctives you will use in Unit 4.

2 · Past participles

The written accent: -ído after a strong vowel

When the stem ends in a, e or o, the i of -ido is stressed. It would otherwise merge into a diphthong, so it takes an accent:

• leer → leído · creer → creído · caer → caído · traer → traído · oír → oído · reír → reído · poseer → poseídoStem vowel a / e / o + í.
• construir → construido · incluir → incluido · destruir → destruido · huir → huidoNo accent after u: ui is already a diphthong, so -uir verbs are written without one.

The irregular participles: the complete working list

There are few of them, and every one appears in AP texts. They fall into three endings, so learn them by ending:

The participle as an adjective

Outside the compound tenses the participle is an adjective, and then it agrees: una puerta abierta, los libros escritos en quechua, las tareas hechas. This is the one place where the same form changes and doesn't change. After haber: invariable. After ser or estar, or next to a noun: it agrees (Section 7).

3 · The five compound indicative tenses

Each compound tense means “before the reference point of its simple partner.” The present perfect is the past seen from now. The pluperfect is the past before a past moment. The future perfect is completed before a future moment. The conditional perfect is completed in a hypothetical. The timeline below shows it:

3a · Pretérito perfecto (compuesto)

3b · Pluscuamperfecto

3c · Pretérito anterior (recognise only)

You will not need to produce it. You may meet it in a literary excerpt in Section I, and there you only need to know that hubo + participio means “had just finished doing, and then immediately…”. Don't mistake it for hubo meaning “there was” (hubo un accidente). A participle next to it tells you which one it is.

3d · Futuro perfecto

3e · Condicional perfecto

Preview: the compound subjunctives (Unit 4)

The same recipe works with a subjunctive haber. Recognise these now; Unit 4 covers when to use them.

Interactive lab Compound tenses, two at a time Open it in Interactive Laboratories →

4 · The progressive & the gerund

The progressive in every tense

Forming the gerund

Pronouns either go before estar or attach to the gerund. When they attach, the gerund gets a written accent to keep its stress: Lo estoy leyendo = Estoy leyéndolo; Se lo estaba explicando = Estaba explicándoselo.

Other gerund auxiliaries

Other verbs besides estar take a gerund, and each adds its own nuance. These appear often in formal writing:

When Spanish does NOT use the progressive

5 · Infinitive uses

English uses “-ing” in many places where Spanish needs the infinitive. That is the most common gerund error in AP essays. The rules:

6 · Verb phrases (perífrasis verbales)

A perífrasis is a conjugated “helper” verb (often with a linking preposition) plus an infinitive. It adds time, obligation or repetition. They are compact, idiomatic, and they come up in every listening section. The connecting word is part of the phrase, and dropping it is the usual error: acabo de llegar, not ×acabo llegar.

7 · Passive & impersonal se

Spanish has four ways to take focus off the person doing an action. Section I texts use all four. The essay is where you choose between them.

7a · Passive with ser: ser + participle (+ por agent)

• La ley fue aprobada por el Congreso en 2019.The law was passed by Congress in 2019.
• Los murales fueron pintados por artistas locales.The murals were painted by local artists.
• Las nuevas medidas han sido anunciadas esta mañana.The new measures have been announced this morning. (ser in the present perfect: sido is invariable, anunciadas agrees)

7b · Pasiva refleja: se + 3rd-person verb agreeing with the thing

• En Paraguay se hablan dos lenguas oficiales: el español y el guaraní.In Paraguay two official languages are spoken: Spanish and Guaraní.
• Cada año se producen millones de toneladas de basura electrónica.Millions of tonnes of e-waste are produced every year.
• Se construyó un nuevo hospital en 2020.A new hospital was built in 2020.

7c · Impersonal se: se + 3rd-singular verb, no subject

With intransitive verbs, or with a person as the object (marked with personal a), se means “one / people / you” in general. The verb stays singular:

• En este barrio se vive bien.People live well in this neighbourhood.
• Se trabaja mucho y se descansa poco.People work a lot and rest little.
• Se ayuda a los recién llegados. (not ×se ayudan a los recién llegados)Newcomers are helped. With personal a the verb stays singular.

7d · estar + participle: the resulting state

Ser + participle describes the action. Estar + participle describes the state left after it. The participle agrees here too.

• La puerta fue cerrada a las diez. → La puerta está cerrada.The door was closed at ten (event). → The door is closed (state now).
• El problema ya está resuelto.The problem is already solved.
• Los resultados estaban publicados en la web.The results were (up/available) on the website.

8 · Mixed drill: all five compound indicatives

Interactive lab Mixed compound tenses Open it in Interactive Laboratories →

9 · Worked examples

1. Present perfect or preterite?

Choose, and give the reason: (a) Este año mi familia ___ (viajar) dos veces a México. (b) El año pasado mi familia ___ (viajar) a México.

(a) ha viajado. Este año is still open, so the perfect fits, and it is correct in both Spain and Latin America. (b) viajó. El año pasado is closed, so only the preterite works. ×El año pasado ha viajado is wrong everywhere.

The reliable test: can you add “so far” (hasta ahora)? If so, the perfect is available.

2. Building a pluperfect sequence

Join these into one sentence showing which happened first: Los voluntarios limpiaron la playa. Después llegó el alcalde.

Cuando llegó el alcalde, los voluntarios ya habían limpiado la playa.

The later event (llegó) is in the preterite and serves as the reference point. The earlier one moves to the pluperfect, and ya confirms it.

An equally good alternative with the compound infinitive: El alcalde llegó después de que los voluntarios habían limpiado la playa. Also …después de haber limpiado… when the subject is the same.

3. Probability: four guesses

Express each guess in one verb:

• (Now) “Where’s Ana? She’s probably at work.” → Estará en el trabajo.Present probability → futuro.
• (Now) “The lights are off. They must have gone to bed.” → Se habrán acostado.Past-up-to-now probability → futuro perfecto. The reflexive pronoun goes before haber.
• (Then) “There were many people; there were probably 500.” → Habría unas quinientas personas.Past probability → condicional. Habría is “there would be”, singular.
• (Then) “He didn’t know; nobody must have told him.” → Nadie se lo habría dicho.Before-a-past-moment probability → condicional perfecto.

4. Progressive, gerund or infinitive?

Translate: (a) Swimming is good exercise. (b) After swimming, I was tired. (c) She was swimming when it started to rain. (d) I’m swimming in the competition tomorrow.

• (a) Nadar es un buen ejercicio.Subject → infinitive.
• (b) Después de nadar, estaba cansado.After a preposition → infinitive.
• (c) Estaba nadando cuando empezó a llover.In progress as background → imperfect progressive; empezar a + inf.
• (d) Mañana nado / voy a nadar en la competencia.Future plan → present or ir a, never the progressive.

Only one of the four English “-ing” forms became a Spanish gerund.

5. One sentence, three passives

Rewrite Los colonizadores introdujeron el café en la región en el siglo XVIII without naming the colonizers as subject.

• El café fue introducido en la región por los colonizadores en el siglo XVIII.Passive with ser, agent kept. Introducido agrees with el café.
• El café se introdujo en la región en el siglo XVIII.Pasiva refleja: no agent, verb singular to agree with café.
• → And for plural subjects: Las semillas de café se introdujeron… / fueron introducidas…Everything shifts to plural (and feminine).

Not possible: ×El café fue introducido de los colonizadores. The agent takes por. Also not possible: ×Se introdujo el café por los colonizadores, because the pasiva refleja normally does not take an agent.

6. Unpacking a perífrasis-heavy sentence (listening style)

“Llevamos cinco años trabajando en este barrio y, aunque acabamos de abrir el segundo comedor, no vamos a dejar de pedir ayuda, porque la demanda sigue aumentando.”

• Llevamos cinco años trabajandoWe have been working (here) for five years and still are.
• acabamos de abrirwe have just opened (very recently)
• no vamos a dejar de pedirwe are not going to stop asking (ir a + dejar de stacked)
• sigue aumentandokeeps increasing

A typical multiple-choice question: ¿Qué indica la hablante sobre el comedor? The answer hinges on acabar de = “recently opened”. A distractor such as “they have finished the second soup kitchen” is built to catch students who read acabar as “finish”.

7. Pronoun placement in compound and progressive forms

Replace the objects with pronouns: (a) He enviado el correo a la profesora. (b) Estoy explicando la tarea a mis compañeros.

• (a) Se lo he enviado.Pronouns go before haber, never attached to the participle. le → se before lo.
• (b) Se la estoy explicando = Estoy explicándosela.Two options with the progressive; the attached form needs an accent on the gerund.

Checklist

• I conjugate haber in all nine tenses it helps form, and I never use tener as the helper verb.
• I know the participle is invariable after haber but agrees after ser/estar and next to a noun.
• I produce every irregular participle in the list from memory, including the compounds (descrito, devuelto, propuesto, resuelto), and put the accent on leído, traído, oído.
• I choose present perfect vs. preterite by whether the time frame is still open, and I stay consistent with one regional system.
• I use the pluperfect only when there is a later past event it is earlier than.
• I recognise the pretérito anterior (apenas hubo terminado) and don’t confuse it with hubo = there was.
• I can express probability in all four tenses: será, habrá sido, sería, habría sido.
• I form gerunds with -yendo, the -ir stem change and the irregulars (pudiendo, riendo), and I never use the progressive for future plans.
• I use the infinitive after prepositions and as a subject, and the compound infinitive (después de haber…) in formal writing.
• I know the fifteen perífrasis with their linking words, and the deber / deber de distinction.
• I choose between ser + participle, pasiva refleja, impersonal se and estar + participle, and I make each one agree correctly.