Ir + gerund

Question

I'm having a little bit of trouble lately with some variations of the verb "Ir". For instance, I wrote to a friend of mine in Spanish and they replied: "Cómo va mejorando tu español!"

Also, I'm a fan of a certain TV show which featured a cover of the Bob Dylan song "The Times They Are A'Changing", and the Spanish translation is "Los Tiempos Van Cambiando"

Can someone help with how to interpret or apply the use of ir + infinitive? Why wouldn't you use the present progressive, such as "Tu español está mejorando!", for example. Thanks!

it's ir plus gerund and not infinitive. - polenta1, May 22, 2017

Thanks, got it right in the title but wrong in the message! - philsjwfu, May 22, 2017

Answer 1

It's a nuance.

To me "está mejorando" gives the sense of is in the midst of improving.

Va mejorando- is gradually improving day by day.

The contrast for me would be more with sigue mejorando.

See here:

From Benjamin and Butt (This links to a different edition than mine, I have the 5th):

https://books.google.com/books?id=mEfKAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA321&lpg=PA321&dq=20.8.2+gerund+with+ir+benjamin+butt&source=bl&ots=kEhGuMKG4h&sig=kZrb17RpmzWOiIawUQgqE0Ra4gs&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj-q6XZ44HUAhVK0YMKHRfhA9YQ6AEIIjAA#v=onepage&q=20.8.2 gerund with ir benjamin butt&f=false

Gerund with ir- expresses slow, painstaking or gradual action

example: Nos vamos haciendo viejos. We're (gradually) getting oldder

Spoken Mexican Spanish also uses this construction to express an action that is just finishing.

See nearby sections for use with andar, llevar, quedarse, salir, seguir, continuar, venir, acabar and terminar

The qoute is fthe 5th edition, the link is the 4th. :) - bosquederoble, May 21, 2017

Answer 2

ir+gerund is an [removed]not a tense). Although the meaning is similar to present continuous it's not as much used and I have the feeling it could imply more time .

Los tiempos están cambiando. Times are changing.
Los tiempos van cambiando. Same as above but a little more emphasis on the length of time and on the changing.

---

Cómo va mejorando tu español is very good. It implies it's a little more gradual than Cómo está mejorando tu español.

Answer 3

You can also say:

¡Tu español está mejorando, cada vez más! = Your Spanish is improving more each time!

or....

¡Tú español está mejorando poco a poco!= Your Spanish is improving little by little! (or, a little at a time!)

The construction of ir + gerund as Bosque says in his post means that the Spanish is in the process of improving and emphasizes a slow, painstaking process! This way of expressing it using ir + friend is just one of a number of ways!

I hope this helps

Corrijan mi español si es necesario, por favor