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Questions & Answers about Acabo de abrir la ventana.
What does Acabo de abrir la ventana mean, and how does the acabar de + infinitive structure work?
It literally reads “I finish of opening the window,” but Spanish uses acabar de + infinitive as a fixed way to say you’ve just done something. So Acabo de abrir la ventana means “I have just opened the window,” or more naturally in English, “I just opened the window” (a moment ago).
Why is abrir in the infinitive form rather than a conjugated verb?
In the acabar de + infinitive construction, acabar conveys the tense/person (here first-person present: acabo) and must be followed by de + the infinitive of the main action. The action itself (here abrir) stays in the infinitive.
What tense and person is acabo?
Acabo is the first-person singular (yo) form of acabar in the present indicative. In this periphrasis it signals “I just did …” whatever follows.
Why is there a de after acabo? Doesn’t acabar sometimes take a direct object?
When acabar means “to finish something,” it can take a direct object (e.g., Acabé la novela). But in the sense of “to have just done something,” Spanish requires acabar de + infinitive. The de is an integral part of that “just did” meaning.
How is Acabo de abrir la ventana different from simply saying Abrí la ventana?
Abrí la ventana is the simple past (preterite) meaning “I opened the window” at some unspecified point in the past. Acabo de abrir la ventana highlights that you opened it just now, only moments ago—similar to saying “I just opened the window.”
Could you say Acabé de abrir la ventana instead of Acabo de abrir la ventana?
Yes, you can use the preterite acabé de + infinitive to report that something happened immediately before another past action. For example:
• Acabé de abrir la ventana cuando sonó el teléfono.
Here it means “I had just opened the window when the phone rang.” But to express a very recent action in the present moment, Spanish speakers normally use acabo de.
Can you use other expressions, like recién, to say “I just opened the window”?
Absolutely. In Latin America you’ll often hear:
• Recién abrí la ventana.
You can also say Recién he abierto la ventana, though the present perfect (he abierto) is more common in Spain. In many Latin American varieties, Recién + preterite is the go-to way to mean “just now.”
Why is the definite article la used before ventana? English sometimes drops articles in similar contexts.
Spanish normally requires a definite article before singular, specific nouns. Here la ventana refers to that particular window. In English you might drop “the” when describing actions (e.g., “open window” in recipe-style directions), but in conversation we usually say “open the window.” Spanish just makes the article mandatory in most cases.
How do you conjugate acabar de for other subjects to say things like “you just opened,” “we just opened,” etc.?
Use the present indicative of acabar plus de + infinitive:
• Tú acabas de abrir la ventana
• Él/Ella/Usted acaba de abrir la ventana
• Nosotros/Nosotras acabamos de abrir la ventana
• Vosotros/Vosotras acabáis de abrir la ventana
• Ellos/Ellas/Ustedes acaban de abrir la ventana
What’s the difference between Acabo de abrir la ventana and Acababa de abrir la ventana?
• Acabo de abrir la ventana (present + de) means you just opened it right now.
• Acababa de abrir la ventana (imperfect + de) means you had just opened it when something else happened in the past—similar to “I had just opened the window.”
