Preterito perfecto vs Imperfecto

Harsh K.B1Kwiziq community member

Preterito perfecto vs Imperfecto

"And the experience was horrible" "

Ya ha sido una experiencia horrorosa"

Why did we use "Perfecto" instead of "Imperfecto"? I'm so confused! 

And also "El camping estaba muy sucio"

Can't we use "Era" here ???


Asked 2 years ago
InmaNative Spanish expert teacher in KwiziqCorrect answer

Hola Harsh

We are using the perfect tense in "y ha sido una experiencia horrorosa" because it is referring to a very recent action (the previous sentence is saying "acabo de..." = I've just...) so, we use the perfect tense when we feel like it's still connected to the present, which is the case here. 

In "el camping estaba muy sucio" you need estar because the speaker is referring to a "physical state" of something more than an essential quality. The speaker has found a dirty camp site when they were there; with estaba sucio they imply that people have left a lot of rubish there more than being a generally speaking dirty place. With the adjective "sucio" we very rarely use ser because being dirty is not generally a quality that is inherent in something or someone but dirtiness it something that things "get" as a result. 

Estar for physical condition

Saludos

Preterito perfecto vs Imperfecto

"And the experience was horrible" "

Ya ha sido una experiencia horrorosa"

Why did we use "Perfecto" instead of "Imperfecto"? I'm so confused! 

And also "El camping estaba muy sucio"

Can't we use "Era" here ???


Sign in to submit your answer

Don't have an account yet? Join today

Ask a question

Find your Spanish level for FREE

Test your Spanish to the CEFR standard

Find your Spanish level
Thinking...