How do I know if it's progressive?

Question

So I'm going over my irregular verbs, and I just realized I have no idea how to tell if I should treat a verb as progressive. For example, why do I say "Usted se divierte" but not "El se sale" ? And would "She puts on" be "Ella pone" or "Ella se pone"? I was fine until I started thinking about it! Can anyone help?

Answer 1

With divertirse and ponerse, you're looking at reflexive verbs where the reflexive pronoun (in this case "se") goes in front of the conjugated verb. However, salir is not reflexive and therefore would not need a reflexive pronoun.

I guess what I'm asking is why is the verb considered reflixive? I just can't figure out how to make a distinction between "She puts a shirt on" and "He speaks". - leifeng183, Dec 8, 2010

With reflexive verbs, usually the reflexive pronoun( the "se" in "se pone") refers back to the subject. So "se pone" would mean, literally, he puts a shirt on himself. For "he speaks" there is no need for the "se." - yttrium, Dec 8, 2010

The pronoun always refers back to the subject. That's what "reflexive" means. - samdie, Dec 8, 2010

ahh, okay. that comment helped. thanks alot yttrium! - leifeng183, Dec 8, 2010

Answer 2

This might be interesting to you, or help you clarify your question. Personally, I saw your question as being about the difference between the pronominal and non-pronominal use of the verb to show aspect.

pongo=I put

me pongo=I am putting on [me]

Is the pronominal usage (here relexive) a different aspect of the verb?

verb aspect

Answer 3

I think it´s not a good approach to talk about ´progressive verbs´. You have to think actions as conjugated in progressive tense. The progressive tenses in Spanish are formed by using a conjugated form of estar (to be) followed by a present participle, the form of the verb that ends in -ando or -iendo.

Present progressive

él sale -> he goes out (every night) él está saliendo ----> he´s going out (now)

Then, I´m not sure if are you asking about progressive tense of about reflexive and pronominal verbs?

You can use a reflexive verb in progressive tense:

Él se está lavando las manos -> he´s washing his hands

or a pronominal verb:

Él se está divirtiendo mucho esta noche----> He´s having a great time tonight.