"La ví llegar" - Why not "La ví llegando"/

Question

This is the most confusing aspect of Spanish for me.

In English, I'd say, "I saw her coming" and my first attempt at translation would be "La ví llegando", but this seems wrong so I'd try "La ví llega", but that seems wrong too but so does "La ví llegar."

Can anyone explain to me what grammar rule this is and provide some examples?

My best alternative is "La ví mientras llegaba ella" because it's the only one that feels right to me.

Muchas gracias!

Answer 1

Why in English would you say "I saw her arrive" and not "I saw her arriving"?

It´s the same choice in Spanish: "La vi llegar" and "La vi llegando".

The difference is the nuance the speaker wishes to create.

There is no grammar rule. Both are correct constructions.

La vi mientras llegaba ella: although not gramatically incorrect, it sounds strange because of ella and the word grouping of ver , mientras, and llegar.

Could you say "al llegar ella, la vi" or "cuándo llegaba ella, la vi"? Or does that not sound right? - dennywells, Nov 24, 2013

Thanks! This is really helpful. - SlimNm, Nov 24, 2013

Answer 2

I don;t see the difference. To me both are correct.

Answer 3

When you need to verbs to express an action the first is conjugated and the second is left in the infinitive. This is because the first verb provides the tense and person so the second verb can be "lazy" and just tag along in the infinitive.

This is not always true but most of the time it is.

Answer 4

They have different meanings

That's not very helpful :\ Could you expand on that please? - SlimNm, Nov 23, 2013