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.
Is this lesson demonstrating the use of the PRESENT perfect subjunctive after "esperar" or the PAST perfect subjunctive? If the former, why is it referred to as "Pretérito Perfecto Subjuntivo", if we ordinarily translate the word "pretérito" as "past"?
OR
To phrase this question differently, when I use "haya", "hayas", "haya", etc. plus the past participle of a verb, am I using the Present perfect subjunctive, or the Past perfect subjunctive, or, in fact, is there another name, English and/or Spanish for this conjugation?
elija las construcciones que mejor se adapten a contexto de la frase: (ir a +infinitivo,pensar +infinitivo, presente, futuro)
1.te Lo juro - siempre ........... a tu lado, incluso dentro de 30 años.
2.Qué........ el viernes, porque no veo que tengas ningún plan concreto.
3.qué edad crees que tiene la sra. nowakowa? creo que .......... unos 45, pero no estoy seguro.
4. en julio .............. a la playa con toda la familia, ya hemos reservado una casa de campo y comprado los biletes.
"El hemisferio meridional" is an accepted (though perhaps less common) equivalent of "southern hemisphere." Perhaps it could be added as a correct answer.
Hello, I’ve really struggled with this lesson. I’ve finally figured out that it is the verb itself that decides whether or not you use ‘a’ or ‘de’. It just wasn’t clicking. So first I will start learning which preposition follows specific verbs, then I will come back to this. Your lesson is about learning that ‘a+el’ is ‘al’ and ‘de+el’ is ‘del’. And I understand that completely. I don’t recall if there is a lesson about correct propositions after verbs. Please let me know if there is. Thank you!
Hola Silvia y/o Inma,
Please could you tell me why the preposition a is used with sobrevivir and yet not used with superar (which was given as an alternative in the hint)? I hope it's not something obvious that my old brain isn't getting, ja ja ja!
Gracias :)
The examples all list a couple actions that are being requested or suggested. Would it be just as normal to use it when there is just a single action being requested? Like "Pones los papeles sobre la mesa" would sound as normal as a command as "Pon los papeles sobre la mesa"? As a non-native speaker, if I talked that way would people think I don't know the imperative?
Probably not.
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