Spanish Present Progressive and future tense question

Question

Hey fellow aspiring polyglots, I have a question in regards to Spanish. I have been to many Spanish speaking countries and often hear things like "Adonde vas" opposed to "Donde estas yendo" or "Que Haces" instead of "Que estas haciendo". In native usage, are you more likely to hear people just use the regular present indicative with that?

Secondly, from my travel experiences, it seems that people generally only use the future tense for distant time periods or in formal lexicon. Are you more likely to hear the ir plus a plus infinitive to talk about future events? Thank you!

Saludos,

Welcome to SpanishDict. - rac1, Oct 14, 2015

Answer 1

I am also from Spain, but have lived among Mexicans for over 20 years now. In addition to what txustaboy has stated we also use the "ir+a" construction. Más tarde vamos a ver una película. (voy a, vas a va a ect.)

We hardly ever use "estoy yendo" for I am going. Just "voy" is sufficient.

However you will hear "¿Qué estás haciendo?" very frequently.

In English we use the present progressive for some action that will take place at a future time, like: Tomorrow Mr. Garcia is giving a lecture on Mayan architecture.

In Spanish we would use the present tense for this purpose. "Mañana el Sr. García da una conferencia sobre la arquitectura maya."

Now that two of us have answered your question could you do us a favor and fill out your profile---please? It will help us to address your questions better if we know your levels of Spanish and Enlgish. Click on my name to see how it's done. You don't have to fill out your bio in Spanish though.

Buena suerte.

Muchísimas gracias! - Natesmith1016, Oct 14, 2015

Yup; I don't think I've ever head "estar + yendo". - HackerKing, Oct 15, 2015

Answer 2

1) Both ways are the same. People use the present simple and continuous equally.

2) In my experience (I'm a Spanish native speaker from Spain) we generally use the future if we are talking later than today or tomorrow. So, if I'm going to say that this night i will get dinner with my girlfriend, I would say: Esta noche CENO con mi novia (present). If I talk about tomorrow, I also would say: Mañana CENO con mi novia.

After writing this post I have realized that I don't use the future form except if the action in the future has no date still.

Next week I will go to the shop - La semana que viene iré a la tienda

Hágale comúnmente dice, "esta noche, voy a ir a cenar "? - Natesmith1016, Oct 14, 2015

No, nate, I don't think ir is necessary, cenar will be fineon it's own. - annierats, Oct 14, 2015