Me siento, Estoy sentando, Estoy sentandome...

Question

A question regarding pronominal verbs: preocupar(se), and sentar(se)

Their present forms are : "me preocupo" and "me siento"

1.Then why is it correct to say: "Estoy preocupado" and "Estoy sentando" ...where does the pronominal part "me" go? Do these mean "I am worried", and "I am seated"?

1. So how do you say "I am worrying", I guess it would be "estoy preocupandome" and"I am sitting" is "Estoy sentandome"?

Thanks in advance T

Answer 1

Hi Tianita,

To use preocuparse and sentarse in the pronominal form you'd have to say:

Me preocupo and Me siento. They mean I worry and I sit.

In the progressive form they would be expressed as: Me estoy preocupando or Me estoy sentando, which mean I am worrying and I am sitting.

When you say "Estoy preocupado" or "Estoy sentado" You are using both verbs' past participles (preocupado and sentado) followed by the conjugated verb to be. These past participles work here as adjectives. You are saying: I'm worried and I'm sitting down (as you know, we don't say I'm sat down in English).

I hope this helps.