Present vs progressive
i am watching Spanish tv and have noticed two ways of saying what are you doing? ¿Qué estás haciendo? And ¿Qué haces? Which one is more common and if the present tense can mean the same as the progressive tense then why ever use the progressive because it is just a longer way of saying the same thing? Can someone please clarify this for me?
7 Answers
Actually, I've found that it's the other way around. When the progressive is used "estas haciendo" represents in that exact moment, whereas the present is less clear/more continuous.
"¿Qué haces?" might mean two things. General things and present/ temporary things. So, the stress is the only thing that changes the message.
You ask say either of this two questions to someone with surprise, disappointment, fear, for example. But there are some situations in which you cannot use a random one. And those, you can only learn them with experience.
The only one that can clarify it to you is you. So watch some TV shows, movies to see which of those people use due to one random situation.
Everyone seems to have covered the main points here and I agree with Don K in fact this really needs to be stressed - in Spanish you can only use the present progressive if you are referring to something in progress in this moment.
This is different to English as we often use it to refer to the future - I am having dinner with Juan tonight. You can use the present simple to say this in Spanish but never the present progressive!
I have noticed the following when watching football.
Brazil wins. Brasil gana. Even when the game is not finished..
In English we would always say: Brazil is winning. Brasil está ganando.
English uses the continuous a lot more than Spanish does.
Similarly "¿Què haces?" and not "¿Qué estás haciendo?"
I agree:
Actually, I've found that it's the other way around. When the progressive is used "estas haciendo" represents in that exact moment, whereas the present is less clear/more continuous.
In addition, there are various words that are only used with progressive while answering, ie: ¿Qué haces?..... Estoy comiendo (not [yo] como).
Perhaps it doesn't apply to Spanish, but in English, often the choice between simple present (I do) and present progressive (I am doing) is to match the tense in a question, e.g., -Mother: What are you doing? Child: I am doing my homework. -New friend: What do you do where you work? -New friend 2: I do all the heavy work. Otherwise, the determining factors are: 1) Were you doing this a minute or so ago, 2) Are you still doing this right now,3) Will you still be doing this a minute or two from now. If the answer to all three questions is "yes" then you would use the present progressive unless doing so would change the meaning, as in the difference between "I work for a large corporation" and "I am working for a large corporation". In the second sentence, there is an implication that you do not always work for this large corporation, that the employment is temporary.
Technically, ¿Qué estás haciendo? is continuously happening right now. And ¿Qué haces? is happening only for the moment... but in meaning for this, it's about the same. But, often the continuous is important to distinguish.
