Confused about multiple uses of the present tenseHello,
There have been a number of questions in different topic areas along the lines of “Why don’t we use the present progressive tense for such and such an example in Spanish when the English translation is in the present progressive tense?” An example might be “Compro unas playeras” being translated as “I am buying some t-shirts”.
The answer that the instructors give is usually along the lines of, the Spanish present tense can often be translated as the present progressive tense in English.
In addition, I rarely hear the present progressive tense being used from day to day here in Mexico. Google AI agrees with me:
"In Mexican Spanish, the present indicative (voy) is significantly more common for everyday use than the present progressive (estoy yendo). While both can describe actions happening in the moment, the simple present is the "default" choice in most social contexts."
In the kwiz questions I keep answering using the present tense, just out of habit. It's not that I don't know how to use the present progressive tense, it's just that I'm not used to hearing it. This habiit is so strong that sometimes I even miss the instructions.
So maybe the present tense answers shouldn't always be marked wrong, and trigger words such as "en este momento" should be used more often? Also, maybe this idea could be added to the above lesson.
PS You may wonder why I'm studying level A1 if I already speak Spanish daily. It is because I want to strengthen my foundation and in general Kwiziq has been invaluable with this.
Hello,
There have been a number of questions in different topic areas along the lines of “Why don’t we use the present progressive tense for such and such an example in Spanish when the English translation is in the present progressive tense?” An example might be “Compro unas playeras” being translated as “I am buying some t-shirts”.
The answer that the instructors give is usually along the lines of, the Spanish present tense can often be translated as the present progressive tense in English.
In addition, I rarely hear the present progressive tense being used from day to day here in Mexico. Google AI agrees with me:
"In Mexican Spanish, the present indicative (voy) is significantly more common for everyday use than the present progressive (estoy yendo). While both can describe actions happening in the moment, the simple present is the "default" choice in most social contexts."
In the kwiz questions I keep answering using the present tense, just out of habit. It's not that I don't know how to use the present progressive tense, it's just that I'm not used to hearing it. This habiit is so strong that sometimes I even miss the instructions.
So maybe the present tense answers shouldn't always be marked wrong, and trigger words such as "en este momento" should be used more often? Also, maybe this idea could be added to the above lesson.
PS You may wonder why I'm studying level A1 if I already speak Spanish daily. It is because I want to strengthen my foundation and in general Kwiziq has been invaluable with this.
Why did Kwiziq insert "una" in front of "astrónoma" but not in front of "miembro"?
Pati Ecuamiga
I was wondering how ir + gerund compares with andar + gerund?
It might be helpful to point out how an infinitive is used to express what in English a gerund might be used for (Sorry, I know that's a horrible sentence.) To reference the quiz question, "conducir" is used for the concept "driving." As an English speaker, that is strange and it was not apparent right away what was going on.
For the question, "El dinero de la cuenta corriente ________ para ti," I thought the answer would be "eres," but since that wasn't offered, I chose "habia" though that did not seem correct. "Era" was the answer, but I don't recall ever seeing a discussion of "era." Presumably that is a form of Ser?
Hola Inma, busco un listo de verbs de moviemiento. He buscado el internet. ¿Existe un listo de estos verbos? Gracias y que tengas una buena tarde.
Ken
Why is there a ‘por’ after pagar in the first example and not in the second?
No voy a aceptar que pagues por todo.
Deja que él pague las cervezas.Find your Spanish level for FREE
And get your personalised Study Plan to improve it
Find your Spanish level