Spanish language Q&A Forum

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.

Note that the last example above expressing it's about to rain, could also use por with the same meaning: "Está por llover"

Hola, what is the difference  between estar por and estar para. Muchas gracias, shirley.

Hello there, I have tried using the search bar but can't find what I'm looking for. I am studying this topic:

llevar + tiempo + haciendo algo

por ejemplo:

Llevo sin fumar dos anos

llevo dos anos sin fumar

llevo desde que tenia 20 anos sin fumar

are there any exercises on this topic that I can do?

Thanks

Le he dado esto ayer?

I was using an app for conjugations and that's what I saw. It sounds weird to me because I'd say "le di esto ayer"

what do you guys think? thanks

Estabamos esperando el autobus cuando los ladrones entraron en casa

Esperabamos el autobus cuando los ladrones entraron en casa.

Me he confundido porque parecen iguales pero creo que hay una diferencia, no?

llovia cuando empezò el partido

estaba lloviendo cuando empezo el partido

same thing, right?