parecer pegado or parecer estar pegado

Question

This comes from an answer in the preterite v imperfect game.

I used parecer pegado to say seemed glued. Gekkosan said it should be parecer estar pegado to say seemed to be glued. Obviously he is the native speaker so I accept his answer but still wonder why.

For example must I say parecer estar cansado for you seem to be tired. or can I simply say parecer cansado for you seem tired?

Or another example;; parecer preocupado or parecer estar preocupado?

I think (and that's what I said) that we need concrete examples. In the particular example we were working on, you were translating : "his feet seemed glued together." - Gekkosan, Jan 23, 2012

Here I used cansado. Does that change it? I am trying to understand. - gringojrf, Jan 23, 2012

Does an appearance such as tiredness differ from a physical state like glued together? - gringojrf, Jan 23, 2012

I always thought that in English if you left out the "to be" part it was incorrect, like a shortcut that works on the street but is not gramatically correct. Yes, no? - Pablo-Peligroso, Jan 23, 2012

Answer 1

I think you may want to Google progressive tense in Spanish.

Of course, Gekko-san is right. I have yet to see when he is wrong.

It took me a while to understand the difference between progressive tense and gerund, as well.

Basically, in English, a gerund substitutes for a noun in a sentence. Think, "Walking is always good exercise." Here walking is used as a noun and becomes the subject of the sentence. You can't do this in Spanish! You would need to use the infinitive form (dictionary form) of the verb, or a Spanish noun substitute.

The progressive tense has to do with time. It is used when you want to stress that the action is ongoing. Here's a bit about it's usage in English.

As you can see, in English we use the helping verb to be as well.

The main difference I know of between English and Spanish usage is that although it is fairly common in English, it is used much less often in Spanish.

The infinitive form (dictionary form) of a verb can usually be substituted for the progressive tense in Spanish. So I'm working on weaning myself off the progressive. Whenever I'm tempted to use it, I ask myself, "is it important to stress the ongoing nature of the action?" If not, then I use the infinitive. So far I haven't received any corrections from native speakers.

Thanks Territurtle. That is using the gerund this is with the past participle. I don't know if it makes a difference. Right now I am confused. - gringojrf, Jan 23, 2012

I made my comments in the post. - territurtle, Jan 23, 2012

I said I accept his answer I just want to understand why? I can't learn if I don't understand. - gringojrf, Jan 23, 2012

Territurtle, thanks for the expanded answer. But all this is related to using the present participle (or gerund in English), I was using the past participle. - gringojrf, Jan 23, 2012

Duh, as she slaps her forehead and slinks down the rabbit hole ... :( - territurtle, Jan 23, 2012

No sweat. It happens to all of us. Me more than most. - gringojrf, Jan 24, 2012