B2 · The past
The form that is not a past
It looks exactly like « I have spoken » and means « I keep speaking ».
Tenho falado com ele does <b>not</b> mean « I have spoken to him ». It means « I have been speaking to him lately » — the action began in the past, keeps repeating, and is still going on.
This is the sharpest trap in the whole chapter for an English speaker, because the form is built exactly as yours is: a present auxiliary plus a past participle, tenho plus falado, the same two pieces in the same order as « I have spoken ». Two identical constructions, two different jobs.
For a single event in the past the plain perfeito is used: falei com ele ontem. And English does have a form for what the Portuguese one means — « I have been speaking » — so the right translation exists; it is simply not the one the shape suggests.
It is built from the present of ter plus the participle: tenho trabalhado, tens visto, temos ido. The usual companions say the repetition out loud: ultimamente, nos últimos tempos, este mês, desde que. Without one of them the form often sounds unfinished.
Die Form
| I have been speaking lately | tenho falado |
| I spoke, I have spoken | falei |
| it has been raining a lot lately | tem chovido muito |
| it rained yesterday | choveu ontem |
| we have been going to the gym | temos ido ao ginásio |
| lately | ultimamente |
Die Regeln im Einzelnen
It means a repetition running up to now.
Tenho trabalhado muito este mês.I have been working a lot this month.
A single event goes in the perfeito.
Trabalhei até às dez ontem.I worked until ten yesterday.
Present of ter plus the participle.
Tem chovido todos os dias.It has been raining every day.
A word of duration usually goes with it.
Ultimamente tenho dormido mal.I have been sleeping badly lately.
Woran man es erkennt
- tenho
- tem
- temos
- ultimamente
- este mês
Beispielsätze
Tenho estudado português todas as noites.I have been studying Portuguese every evening.
Ele tem estado doente nas últimas semanas.He has been ill for the last few weeks.
Não tenho visto o João ultimamente.I have not been seeing much of João lately.
Ontem vi o João no mercado.I saw João at the market yesterday.
Die typisch deutsche Falle
Aufgepasst
To say « I worked yesterday » this form is the wrong one. Tenho trabalhado ontem contradicts itself: ontem names one day and the form wants a stretch. It is trabalhei ontem. English makes exactly the same objection to « I have worked yesterday », so the instinct is there — the difficulty is that « I have spoken to him » is perfectly good English and tenho falado com ele is perfectly good Portuguese, and they do not mean the same thing.
tenho feito means: and I am still doing it.
Jetzt selbst
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