73.3.2 Latin American usage
Latin American Spanish also uses the construction with acabar, but there is also a
parallel construction which is common in some countries, and which carries the word
recién, literally ‘recently’, followed by a verb in the preterite.
Recién llegó.
He/she has (only) just arrived.
Recién lo vi.
I’ve (only) just seen it/him.73.3.3 En este mismo momento...
Another common way of referring to the immediate past is with this expression, used
especially in the spoken language.
En este mismo momento ha salido con su padre. (Acaba de salir.. .)
He/she has gone out with his/her father just now.
En este mismo momento se han ido. (Acaban de irse.)
They have left just now.73.4 Referring to events which are past and complete
73.4.1 The preterite
To refer to events which took place in the past and ended in the past, Spanish normally
uses the preterite. The verb will sometimes be accompanied by a time expression such
as ayer‘yesterday’, anteayer‘the day before yesterday’, la semana pasada‘last week’,
el mes/año pasado‘last month/year’, el martes pasado‘last Tuesday’, hace dos días
‘two days ago’, etc. 17.4 (p. 75)
Fui al cine con Raúl.
I went to the cinema with Raúl.
Ayer vi a Isabel.
I saw Isabel yesterday.
Llegaron hace dos días.
They arrived two days ago.In Madrid, and generally in central Spain, the perfect often replaces the preterite in this
context.
Ayer ha llegado mi madre.
My mother arrived yesterday.
El sábado por la noche he salido con Laura.
I went out with Laura on Saturday night.TALKING ABOUT THE PAST 73.4