Bart, te habla tu padre....

Question

Bart, your father is speaking to you. So "te habla tu padre" could be like "habla con tu padre" isn't that right? but one is "your father is speaking to you (acting like English present progressive but using Spanish present simple) and the other is just "speak to your father" using a command and the first doesn't use a command. Gracias.

Answer 1

I agree with your translations.

"te habla tu padre"

This is a statement. "Your father is talking to you."

"habla con tu padre"

This is a command. "Talk to your father."

Answer 2

What you're missing is the "te" part. By saying "te habla", the "te" acts as the direct object of the sentence.

Your father is talking "TO YOU". So te habla to padre can never be "talk to your father".

Other examples:

Te llama tu amigo - your friend is calling (to) you. Te busca tu novia - your girlfriend is looking for you.

I'm sure there's some fancy terminology for this like transitive verb or something, but I'm a speaker more than a writer.