why present progressive and not present simple?
I am having confusion between the difference between the present progressive and present simple tenses. Translated the mean essentially the same thing, so is there a subtle difference that I am missing or are there certain instances where one is used and the other isn't.
2 Answers
They really don't mean the same thing when they're translated. It's just that sometimes you may use the present tense in place of the present progressive, but never the other way around. The present progressive is strictly used for actions that are occurring NOW. Unlike in English where we use it as a slight future tense (ie: "What are you doing this Saturday?") In other words, the present progressive is used only for verbs currently taking place that have the possibility to continue happening. The reason you may be confused is that it is possible to use a normal present tense verb in the place of a present progressive. It doesn't exactly make sense grammatically, but it is very often used.
This might help too 
Present tenses
