Been There
Tell life stories and recent news with the right past tense — out loud, in conversation.
Use the present perfect — haber (he/has/ha/hemos/han) + past participle — for life experiences and time frames that are still open: he visitado México tres veces, este año he aprendido mucho. Use the preterite for anything anchored to a closed past time: ayer vi una película, en 2019 me mudé a Lima. The time markers make the choice for you: ya, todavía no, nunca, alguna vez point to the perfect; ayer, anoche, la semana pasada demand the preterite. And a Latin American secret: in everyday speech from Mexico City to Buenos Aires, the preterite wins most ties — ya comí is more common than he comido.
Below: the phrases both tenses build, the slip-ups that give learners away, and a way to practise the switch out loud in a real exchange — no drills, no fill-in-the-blanks.
The warm-up pack
The line between he hablado and hablé — and the one word in the sentence that tells you which one to say.
01 · The life-experience one
He visitado México tres veces.
I've visited Mexico three times.
No date attached — it's about the experience itself, not when it happened. That's what pulls you into he visitado instead of visité.
02 · Today, still open
Hoy he dormido muy mal.
I've slept really badly today.
The day isn't over yet, so it stays present perfect. Tomorrow, the same sentence about today would switch to dormí.
03 · The one that trips everyone up
Ayer vi una película buenísima.
Yesterday I watched a really good movie.
It feels recent, so the instinct is he visto. But ayer closes the day off completely — Spanish wants the preterite here, not the perfect.
04 · Never, not once
Nunca he estado en Chile.
I've never been to Chile.
Nunca is one of the words that pulls you straight into the perfect — it's talking about your whole life up to now, not one closed moment.
05 · Ask it back
¿Alguna vez has visto una ballena?
Have you ever seen a whale?
Alguna vez works the same way as nunca — it opens the question up to your entire life, so has visto is the natural form.
06 · Not yet
Todavía no he desayunado.
I still haven't had breakfast.
Todavía no keeps the window open — the thing hasn't happened, but it still could, later today. That's a perfect-tense situation.
07 · The date closes the door
En 2019 me mudé a Lima.
In 2019 I moved to Lima.
The second you name a year, the time frame is shut. Say me mudé, never me he mudado — the date does the work.
08 · Already done
Ya he terminado la tarea.
I've already finished the homework.
Ya is the other cue word, alongside nunca and todavía no — it signals the perfect almost automatically once you notice it.
09 · Last week is closed
La semana pasada viajé a Bogotá.
Last week I traveled to Bogotá.
Same shape as ayer — la semana pasada names a specific, finished stretch of time, so it pairs with viajé, not he viajado.
10 · The irregular you just memorize
Han escrito el informe.
They've written the report.
Escrito doesn't follow the -ado/-ido pattern. It's one of a short list of irregular participles worth knowing cold — escrito, dicho, hecho, visto.
11 · This month, so far
Este mes he ido al gimnasio casi todos los días.
This month I've been to the gym almost every day.
Este mes is still running, like hoy and esta mañana — anything framed inside a time period that hasn't ended yet takes the perfect.
FLUENT
Finally, someone to talk to in Spanish.
Ten-minute spoken lessons. A teacher who answers back — and gently fixes what you got wrong.
First 10 lessons freeandbefluent.com/spanish/been-thereRegional Spanish
Textbooks teach one word. Locals use several — pick your region's and stay consistent.
Watch out
The part no drill site can do
Carla
Your grammar teacher for this pack
No flashcards here, nothing to fill in. In the Been There lessons you swap real stories with Carla, and she keeps steering you across the tense line: ¿Alguna vez has viajado sola? — you answer with the perfect, then she follows up about one specific trip and you switch to the preterite mid-sentence: ¿Has probado ese restaurante? — Sí, fui la semana pasada. Then she rapid-fires time markers — hoy, este mes, ayer, anoche — and you build one spoken sentence per cue, picking the tense on instinct instead of by rule.
Blank mid-sentence and nothing bad happens — she waits. That's the practice, without unnecessary judgement.
Finish the 5 lessons and Been There is yours — earned, not given.
First 10 lessons free · 10-minute spoken lessons · your AI coaching team remembers you
Quick answers
For life experiences and time frames that haven't closed: he visitado México tres veces (experience), hoy he dormido muy mal (today isn't over), este año he aprendido mucho. If the time frame is finished — yesterday, last week — switch to the preterite.
Whenever the action sits at a specific, closed past time: ayer vi una película, la semana pasada viajé a Bogotá, en 2019 me mudé a Lima. Words like ayer, anoche, el lunes lock you into the preterite.
Much less. Mexicans usually prefer ya comí over he comido, and in Argentina and Uruguay the perfect barely appears in speech — it's ya lo hice. If you're unsure in Latin America, the preterite almost never fails.
Haber (he, has, ha, hemos, han) + past participle, and the participle never changes: he hablado con mi jefe, hemos vivido aquí dos años. It's always haber, never tener — and watch the irregular participles: escrito, dicho, hecho, visto, puesto, roto, abierto, vuelto.
No — ayer closes the time frame, so it takes the preterite: ayer comí. Keep the pairings: ya / todavía no / nunca / alguna vez → present perfect; ayer / anoche / la semana pasada → preterite.
