why oh why is it so - I saw your mother this morning?

Question

Why is "Yo he visto a tu madre esta mañana" more correct than " vi a tu madre esta mañana" for "I saw your mother this morning"?

Answer

Hola GarryWith time phrases like "hoy, esta mañana, esta tarde, este verano..." in Spanish (from Spain) we use the present perfect (he visto), not the preterite (vi). As this is a conjugation test, we are indicating in the hint which tense to conjugate (despite the translation in English using "saw"). I hope this clarified it.SaludosInma

Answer

Garry - Another useful guideline indicating that the present-perfect ["compuesto"] is the one required - is the existence of a link between the event being described, and the present...

If somebody remarks: "I saw your mother this morning", then there would usually be some sort of 'follow-up' - perhaps commenting on the significance or implications of what she said or what she was doing.