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We all know the distinction Spanish makes for “be”: “ser/estar” and for “have”: “tener/ haber.” Yet, there is more to it than meets the eye, as can be seen in the examples that follow:

• They can both have meaning of their own as lexical verbs:

I am a teacher = soy maestra/profesora

I am at home = estoy en casa

You have a great sense of humour = tienes un gran sentido del humor

BUT:

It’s cold today = Hace frío hoy

I’m cold= tengo frío

There’s some tea made= Hay té hecho

I always have a tea in the morning = siempre tomo té por las mañanas.

They can add time nuances when we use them as AUXILIARIES in the Verb Phrase, helping the lexical verb to express:

“Aspect”, i.e., time subtleties in terms of:

• • Duration: usually an ongoing, often temporary, event around a present or past time:

 I’m writing the post at the moment= en estos momentos estoy escribiendo el post

You’re being obtuse! =Estás un poco densa, ¿no?

I was cooking dinner when they unexpectedly arrived= estaba haciendo/preparando la cena cuando se presentaron de improviso (sin esperarlos)

I was walking along the beach when I bumped into an old friend I hadn’t seen for ages = Iba caminando por la playa cuando me encontré (me topé) con un viejo amigo al que no veía desde hacía siglos. 

• • Completion: up to an implicit point in the present time (now) or an explicit point in the past:

They’ve given 3 concerts so far= Han dado (llevan dados) 3 conciertos hasta ahora

Thousands of displaced people had fled to relative safety by the time of the first attacks = Miles de desplazados habían ya huído a lugares relativamente seguros para el comienzo de los ataques.

• • A combination of both:

Britain & the EU had been holding talks for months until they finally reached an agreement =Gran Bretaña y la UE llevaban manteniendo conversaciones desde hace meses hasta que por fin llegaron a un acuerdo

Russia has been directing  waves of missiles at critical infrastructure in Ukraine= Rusia está lanzando/lleva lanzando oleadas de misiles dirigidos a golpear/para dañar la infraestructura clave de Ucrania desde hace meses.

“Passive Voice” (auxiliary “be”), i.e., change in the perspective of the event or situation:

Whitby Abbey was built in the 13^th – 14^th centuries on the grounds of the 7^th century’s Northumbrian monastery= La abadía de Whitby se construyó en los siglos XIII y XIV sobre un monasterio del siglo VII en lo que fué Northumbria.

No one had been hurt before, until yesterday’s attack= hasta el ataque de ayer, nadie antes había resultado herido.

This “DUMMY” Auxiliary may be considered:

• “Primary” because there is the lexical verb “DO” that generally expresses the idea of “carrying out/ performing” something and collocates with certain nouns or noun phrases. In this case, it generally corresponds in Spanish with “hacer”.

Yet, as we well know, the distinction English makes between “MAKE” and “DO” causes a lot of problems for Spanish speakers.

• As an Auxiliary, however, it only has three forms: DO/DOES/DID and we call it “Dummy” because it adds no meaning or nuance. Its sole but ESSENTIAL function is to implement the NICE properties, as we’ll see in Part 2.

No such auxiliary exists in Spanish, which has an entirely different way of constructing its verb phrase:

“Does he ever do his homework on his own? = ¿Hace alguna vez los deberes él solo?