Ongoing/On the go

Question

What does "Ongoing/On the go" mean?

Answer 1

What annierats said in English:

Ongoing - something that is happening now. Example The investigation of the crime is ongoing and no suspect has been arrested.

On the go - an active person who keeps doing things and hardly ever relaxes. Example: With both of us working and 2 kids (children) in school, we are constantly on the go.

I am not honestly sure for a Portuguese speaker with quite good English whether Spanish or English is better, so it is probably good to have both. - bosquederoble, Sep 18, 2014

Nice, jubilado. - annierats, Sep 18, 2014

All the answers were excellent. Thanks so much! I just have a nother small question. Are 'On go' and 'On the go' equivalent? Do they mean the same? Because there's the "THE" and I'm not sure if that changes the meaning. - samrodrigue_z, Sep 19, 2014

English and Spanish together is always the best, I'm here because I want to improve and learn both. Thanks so much for the amazing answers! - samrodrigue_z, Sep 19, 2014

Sam "on go" is not actually a phrase. "On the go" is. Everyone thought you meant the word "ongoing" where you typed "on go". So just forget "on go" altogether lol - Hucklebeary, Sep 19, 2014

Right, thank you for answering me! - samrodrigue_z, Sep 20, 2014

Answer 2

Ongoing: algo que está pasando en este momento.

On the go: una persona muy activa , una persona que sabe hacer el flojo,que no puede relajarse.

I should have read his writeup. I deleted my comment. I think you answered the question. - Jubilado, Sep 18, 2014

Answer 3

Upvote for Jub but I'd just like to add that for "ongoing" it's not just for something that is happening right now but something that is continuous or is "still happening". It's for something that started in the past, continues up until the point of "right now" and, most likely, will continue for the foreseeable future. I think it'd best be described as "situations that started in the past, are continuing now, and have no definite "end" to them. "

If that's confusing, my apologies, but for example, breakfast may be happening right now but you'd almost never hear someone say "breakfast is ongoing".

But things like investigations, negotiations, conflicts (war, battle, fight, struggle), debates, efforts, etc... these are things that can be described using the word "ongoing".

And kudos for even figuring out that he meant "ongoing" in the OP's question. I simply thought it was a misunderstanding/typo of the phrase "on the go" and that he was asking for clarification of which is the proper way to say it lol.

Very good point and elaboration of the expression. It would be a good description of what the Present Perfect Tense expresses: Something on going from a time in the past until now. - Jubilado, Sep 19, 2014