In/within five days

[Anita hk]

Can En 5 días or Dentro de 5 días refer to a period in the past? I want to express the idea of ´in / within 5 days, I have done .....´.

 

[Saúl Ortega]

"dentro de 5 días" no.
"en cinco días", yes, it do.

 

[Bevj]

Hello Anita
We need a complete sentence to answer your question.

 

[Anita hk]

Por ejemplo, ´en cinco días, ya he leído dos libros y he hecho todos los deberes´. Supongo que no se dice ´dentro de cinco días, ya he leído dos libros y he hecho todos los deberes´?

 

[gvergara]

Hola:

Yo diría Over the past five days I have read two books.

 

[Cerros de Úbeda]

Por ejemplo, ´en cinco días, ya he leído dos libros y he hecho todos los deberes´.

You can use 'en' with time periods in general, for any verbal tense. For example;

'El mes pasado, me leí dos libros en una semana.'
'Este mes, he leído dos libros en una semana.'
'El mes que viene, tengo que leer dos libros en una semana.'


However, note that your example, with the tense 'he leído', is not actually a past tense, but a 'present', as it is a 'present perfect', which refers to an action, yes, started in the past, but continued into and in the present.

That is, it is a verbal tense that includes aspects of both the past and the present:

In Spanish, this tense is called a 'pretérito perfecto' (that is, a 'preterite'; a 'past'), pointing to its 'preterite' aspect.

However, in English, it is called a 'present perfect'.

This difference in their names points to its combined nature, including both past and present.