Sentado -vs- Sentando
If your kids are in the process of running, you may say something like:
Mis hijos están corriendo.
If they are sitting down in chairs, you would use a form of "sentado":
Mis hijos están sentados. Correct?
When would you use "sentando" like "corriendo" is used above?
Mis hijos están sentando. - Would that mean that they are in the process of moving from a standing position to a sitting position?
6 Answers
Hey Tosh,
As you have probably figured out on your own, the past particple "sentado" is used as an adjective for the state of being seated, but this is not true of "corrido". If you think about it, it's the same in English: we don't say one is in the state of being run, unless you are a herd of cattle.
I also think you would say "Mis hijos están sentandose" to say they are in the process of seating themselves. Doesn't that sound better to you?
Speculation. What a great activity!
Tangential comment...
I had trouble using sentado as an adjective in place of sitting (e.g., The man sitting at that table is eating) until I remembered somehow that we can use the word seated exactly the same (e.g., The man seated at that table is eating).
Once I realized this, sentado made perfect sense to me.
Lazarus has done a great thread on this exact point but I can't remember what it was under - if you PM him I'm sure he'd direct you to it 
But yes basically I think you're right 'seated' if you're actually sitting down but 'sitting' if you're in the process of going from standing to sitting.
...but was curious if "sentando" could be used as "the act of sitting".
It depends.
If the subject of the sentence is doing something else while also seating himself, then yes. (Present participles are adverbs of the main verb and show that some other action was being performed by the subject at the same time as the main verb was being performed)
While sitting down, the man sneezed. = Sentándose el hombre dió un estornudo.
If the present participle (in English) is describing what someone or something other than the subject of the sentence is doing, then a full-blown dependent clause should be used (Spanish natives will sometimes uses the present participle as an adjective just like us, but it is my understanding it isn't good Spanish to do so.)
Joe is talking to the man just now sitting down. = Jose está hablando con el que está sentándose.
Sentándo describing such a fleeting action is probably not a good example, though.
.
A better example might be...
The man sleeping over there is the one I want to see. = El que duerme por ahí es el que quiero ver.
...
And, I might be getting some stuff wrong, too. SE and present participles are not my strong suit.
Yes, or also "se están sentando".
Then why don't you have to say, "Mis hijos se están corriendo"?
Something about that "se" still isn't clicking... what makes the action of "sitting" different from the action of "running" that would require the use of "se"?
Mis hijos estan sentados... es correcto Mis hijos "se" estan sentando indica que se estan colocando en esa posicion.
