splitting compound verbs
2
votes
There seems to be some disagreement on whether Spanish verbs can be split. I've been unable to find anything definitive online. Ex. "¿Están ustedes comiendo? or should it be "¿Están comiendo ustedes?"
Is it possible the rule only applies to compound tenses?
Art
916 views
updated Apr 1, 2017
posted by silacci
Thank you for supplying your profile , that is worth a vote from me. - ray76, Apr 1, 2017
Están comiendo ustedes es muchísimo mejor. - Polenta, Apr 1, 2017
1 Answer
3
votes
It seems that the compound "present or imperfect progressive" tenses can be split, but only by a personal pronoun as you indicated with "¿Están/estaban ustedes comiendo?" but it is not natural. It sounds funny. "¿Está/estaban comiendo ustedes?" sounds so much better.
With the present or past perfect tenses, you can't do it at all. Either "¿Han comido ustedes?' or "¿Ustedes han comido?" is the only way you can do it. And the first way is the more common or nastural.
updated Apr 2, 2017
posted by Daniela2041
Thanks, Daniela. :) - bosquederoble, Apr 1, 2017
