What is the difference between the preterite and perfect tenses in Spanish?

The preterite is used for completed actions in the past
e.g. I spoke to my mother - Hablé con mi madre

The perfect is used to reflect on a current state dependent on a past action, and always translates into English as "I have + past participle"
e.g. I have read many books
He leído muchos libros

JR

Related Spanish GCSE answers

All answers ▸

how do you conjugate the present indicative form of an -ar verb?


When should we use the subjunctive mood as opposed to the indicative?


What's the difference between ser and estar?


How do you talk about the past in Spanish? What are the differences between all the tenses?