Breakdown of Mi madre ya ha reservado los billetes, pero yo todavía no he reservado la excursión en barco.
Questions & Answers about Mi madre ya ha reservado los billetes, pero yo todavía no he reservado la excursión en barco.
In Spain, the pretérito perfecto compuesto (present perfect: ha reservado) is very common for:
- Recent past actions
- Actions that have a connection with the present
Here, the idea is:
- My mother has already booked the tickets (and that situation is relevant now).
If you said:
- Mi madre ya reservó los billetes,
in Spain it can sound more like:
- A completed past event, a little more detached from “now,” often with a specific past time implied or understood.
In much of Latin America, reservó (simple past) would be more common in everyday speech, even in this context. But for Spain, ya ha reservado is very natural and standard in this type of sentence.
Ya here means “already”.
- Mi madre ya ha reservado los billetes
→ My mother has already booked the tickets.
Placing ya before the verb is the most neutral and common position:
- ✅ Mi madre ya ha reservado los billetes.
- Also possible (but with slightly different emphasis):
- Ya mi madre ha reservado los billetes. (more marked, focusing on already)
- Mi madre ha reservado ya los billetes. (emphasises the action + “already”)
If you remove ya, you just lose the “already” idea:
- Mi madre ha reservado los billetes
→ My mother has booked the tickets (no “already” contrast).
Todavía no means “not yet”.
- Yo todavía no he reservado la excursión en barco.
→ I haven’t booked the boat trip yet.
If you only say no, you lose the “yet” nuance:
- Yo no he reservado la excursión en barco.
→ I haven’t booked the boat trip (no idea about “yet,” it’s just a plain negative).
You can also change the position:
- Todavía no he reservado la excursión en barco. (very common)
- No he reservado la excursión en barco todavía.
All mean I haven’t booked it yet.
You can also use aún no instead of todavía no, especially in written or more formal Spanish:
- Yo aún no he reservado la excursión en barco.
→ same meaning: I haven’t booked it yet.
In Spanish, you cannot drop the main verb and just leave the object hanging, as you sometimes can in English.
English can say:
- My mother has already booked the tickets, but I still haven’t *[booked] the boat trip.*
In Spanish you must either:
Repeat the verb:
- …pero yo todavía no he reservado la excursión en barco.
Or replace the whole verb phrase with a pronoun:
- Mi madre ya ha reservado los billetes, pero yo todavía no lo he hecho.
→ …but I still haven’t done it.
- Mi madre ya ha reservado los billetes, pero yo todavía no lo he hecho.
But something like:
- ✗ …pero yo todavía no la excursión en barco
is ungrammatical in Spanish. The verb (he reservado) cannot be omitted in that way.
Spanish articles agree in gender (masculine/feminine) and number (singular/plural) with the noun:
billete is masculine singular → el billete
Plural → los billetes (the tickets)excursión is feminine singular → la excursión (the trip / excursion)
So we get:
- los billetes = the tickets
- la excursión = the trip/excursion
In this sentence, both are specific things known from context (the tickets and a particular boat trip), so Spanish uses definite articles (los, la), just like English uses “the.”
In Spain, the usual distinctions are:
billete
- Mainly for travel: train, bus, plane, metro, etc.
- los billetes here are the travel tickets (probably for transport to somewhere).
entrada
- For events or places: cinema, theatre, concert, museum, theme park, etc.
- Example: una entrada para el cine = a cinema ticket.
boleto
- Common in much of Latin America, often instead of billete.
- In Spain, boleto is understood but less common and sounds more Latin American.
So in this sentence about presumably travel tickets, billetes is exactly what you would expect in Peninsular Spanish.
En barco in this context means “by boat / on a boat” as a means of transport within the idea of the trip.
- la excursión en barco
→ literally the excursion by boat, naturally translated as the boat trip.
Some nuances:
en barco (without article)
- Means “by boat / on a boat” as a general means of transport.
- Similar pattern to en coche (by car), en tren (by train).
en un barco
- Would emphasise “on a particular boat.”
- una excursión en un barco: a trip on a (certain) boat.
al barco
- Means “to the boat,” as a destination, not a way of travelling.
- Example: Voy al barco = I’m going to the boat.
In this sentence, la excursión en barco is the standard way to say “the boat trip / boat excursion.”
The Spanish pretérito perfecto compuesto (present perfect) is formed with:
Present tense of haber:
- he, has, ha, hemos, habéis, han
- Past participle of the main verb:
- For -ar verbs: stem + -ado → reservado (from reservar)
- For -er / -ir verbs: stem + -ido → e.g. comido, vivido
So in the sentence:
- Mi madre ya ha reservado…
- ha = 3rd person singular of haber (she has)
- reservado = past participle of reservar
Full paradigm for reservar:
- yo he reservado
- tú has reservado
- él/ella/usted ha reservado
- nosotros/as hemos reservado
- vosotros/as habéis reservado
- ellos/ellas/ustedes han reservado
Yes, you can omit yo, and it would still be completely correct:
- Todavía no he reservado la excursión en barco.
Spanish is a “pro-drop” language: the subject pronoun is often omitted because the verb ending (he) already shows the person (1st person singular).
Including yo here adds contrast/emphasis:
- Mi madre ya ha reservado los billetes, pero yo todavía no he reservado la excursión en barco.
The yo highlights the contrast between my mother and me:
- My mother has already done it, but *I haven’t yet.*
You can say:
- Mi madre ya reservó los billetes.
It is grammatically correct, but the nuance is slightly different:
ya ha reservado
- Very typical in Spain for recent past with present relevance.
- Feels more connected to now.
ya reservó
- Still fine in Spain, but can sound a bit more like a finished past event, slightly more detached, and is the usual form in many parts of Latin America for this situation.
In everyday Peninsular Spanish conversation, especially without specifying a past time (like “this morning,” “yesterday”), ya ha reservado is more expected and natural.
All involve going by boat, but there are nuances:
excursión en barco
- Sounds like an organized outing or tour, often of limited duration (a half-day, a day trip, etc.).
- Typical translation: boat trip / boat excursion.
paseo en barco
- Emphasises a ride or stroll by boat, often shorter or more relaxed, maybe less formal than an “excursion.”
- Typical translation: boat ride.
viaje en barco
- More like a journey by boat, often used for longer-distance travel from one place to another.
- Typical translation: journey/trip by boat (e.g., a ferry crossing or a sea voyage).
In the sentence, la excursión en barco suggests an organized tourist-type boat trip.
When the past participle is used with haber to form the present perfect (or other compound tenses), it is invariable: it does not agree in gender or number with the subject.
So:
- Mi madre ya ha reservado…
- Yo todavía no he reservado…
In both, reservado stays the same, even though:
- mi madre is feminine singular
- yo could be masculine or feminine
Past participles only agree in gender/number when they are used as adjectives or in some passive constructions with ser:
- La reserva está hecha. (hecha agrees with reserva, feminine singular)
- Las entradas están compradas. (compradas agrees with entradas, feminine plural)
But with haber (he/ha/han reservado, etc.), the participle never changes form.