Present Tense and Past Participle
I was doing some Spanish exercises with some software. There were several simple pairs of sentences. In each pair, the first would say how someone/something is doing something, while the second sentence of the pair would say how someone/something is not doing that same thing.
I noticed that each time the sentence was affirmative (something being done), the present tense was being used, while each time the sentence was negative (having a "no" in it, something not being done), the present participle was used.
Here are examples from the exercises I was doing:
Los caballos corren.
El caballo blanco no está corriendo.
Los gatos duermen.
El gato negro no está durmiendo.
Los perros corren.
El perro blanco no está corriendo.
Is there are a grammar lesson at work here? I would like to learn it if so. I see no point in why the switch is being made from present tense to present participle in these sentences. The only differences I see in the sentences are that one is affirmative, one is negative and that in one sentence the subject is plural and in one sentence the subject is singular. Does that have any bearing on whether to use the present tense or present participle?
1 Answer
It looks like it is more the idea of saying what a group of animals in general does then giving the exception of one animal that is not doing the action.
First one: Horses run. (In general, a true statement that horses do run.) The white horse is not running. (A specific horse that doesn't fit the general statement.)
It's comparing a blanket true statement to describe something with a specific action that is not ongoing at present in a specific situation.
