How do I say "I am studying Spanish"?

Question

Hola a todos,

1.) Do I say "Yo estudio Espanol" or "Estoy estudiando Espanol"? I get so confused conjugating verbs.

2.) Is there a way to conjugate the verb estudiar to say "I have been studying Espanol"?

I woulkd like to thank evryone on these answer forums for helping me so much to learn Spanish. I am studying on my own and have no one to practice speaking with or bounce things off of. This site has been so, so, helpful. Both the forums and the chat rooms.

Muchas gracias a todos! Dianne

Answer 1

Estoy estudiando español would be the correct way to say this.

This is the progressive tense. It requires the conjugated estar verb too act as an auxillary verb (in this case: i am) and a gerund. In this case your gerund is estudiando (studying).

Sorry, I missed the second part of your question. If you wanted to say that you have been doing something, then you need the perfect indicative tense. In spanish, this is formed by using the auxillary verb "haber" and the past participle "estudiado".

He estudiado

The difference between "he estudiado" (the perfect indicative) and "había estudiado" the pluperfect indicative, is that the pluperfect indicative would indicate that you have been studying and that action has been completed, so it depends on whether you are still studying or not on whether you would use:

He estudiado or Había estudiado

It is possible to use tener as an auxillary verb; however, it is usually only used when you want to give special emphasis, as when speaking authoritatively. For example: Tengo dicho..., "I have said..." (i.e. authoritatively).

I hope that this was helpful.

Answer 2

Estudiar = "to study", so to say "I am studying" would be 'Estudiando'... so.. the short answer would be to say "Estudiando español."

I believe your not be presented the entire picture due to quibbling over the "am" in the sentence.

The present progressive form (estoy estudiando) is used to emphasize that you are studying at the moment in time that you say it. (you may or may not have been in the past or the future)

John, can you take the trash out? Sorry, Mom, but I am studying my Spanish homework right now. I'll do it as soon as I'm finished. Estoy estudiando

I riding on a bus talking to a friend about which language classes that I am studying this year. I am studying Spanish (but not at that very moment). Estudio español.

Often there is an overlap depending on how much emphasis that you wish to place on the fact that you are in the progress of doing something at that moment. In some contexts either is acceptable.

Don't be fooled into thinking that if you see the "am" that you necessarily have to use the present progresssive form.

Spanish uses the present tense for many " times", present, future and even past depending on context.

• I agree. Literal translation often lead to odd-sounding sentences. - Deanski 23 de Ene, 2011

Answer 3

Either is correct (beyond the spelling errors) depending on the context that you are saying it in.

Había estado estudiando if we're going with the progressive form.

I have been studyingSpanish. = Tengo estudiado español

He estado estudiando

All of the have, had, has, will have, would have, etc. use the verb haber (not tener)

Answer 4

Yo estudio español. = I study Spanish. Estoy estudiando español. = I am studying Spanish. I have been studyingSpanish. = Tengo estudiado español.

Answer 5

I believe that Izanoni1 is correct. ^-^

Answer 6

Yo estudio español. = I study Spanish. Estoy estudiando español. = I am studying Spanish. I have been studyingSpanish. = [Tengo] He estado estudiado español.

"Tengo" there makes no sense, unless you own (you have,/you hold) something called "estado estudiando español"

Answer 7

Estudiar = "to study", so to say "I am studying" would be 'Estudiando'... so.. the short answer would be to say "Estudiando español."

Answer 8

Looking at the way I wrote my response, I think that I may have been a bit ambiguous about my answer regarding "tener." I did not intend to imply that tener would be able to be used in this instance (that is why I did not give a specific example; however, after reviewing my answer, I can see how it could be interpreted that way. What I was trying to emphasize was that it is possible to use tener has an auxillary verb in some limited (emphasize the word limited) cases.

Sorry about the confusion.

Answer 9

I speak Spanish very well cause it's my mother tongue, I would like to speak English very well. Any advice ?

Nos vemos amigos !!.