solícito, sentado, ? and «»
'¿Está usted bien? 'preguntó solícito Dunbar.
'Estoy fatal 'contestó el doctor Stubbs.
'¿Qué hace aquí?
'Estoy sentado.
- If solicitar is to ask, what is solícito here?
- 'Estoy sentado' I read as 'I am sat' but in the dictionary it says 'sitting' -but wouldn't this be 'Estoy sentando'?
- On my laptop that has a little program for accents I can make this long speech line ''' (as opposed to'-') but at home, where I've used the Spanish keyboard option, I can't find it. Also the «....» marks.
15 Answers
samdie said:
For the "-iendo"/"-ado" it may help to ask yourself if the "-ing" form is required in English or can it be replaced with a past participle? For the chair, you can say either "is sitting" or "is seated" and for James' "dormir" example you can say either "is sleeping" or "is asleep" so it's not really an action (and, in Spanish, is expressed with the past participle). If, however, you want to say "he's walking down the street"/"he's eating", etc. there's no reasonable way to avoid the "-ing" form in English and you want the "-iendo" in Spanish. That's why it's often called a "progressive" tense because there is an action that is in progress.
OK thanks samdie. From that it would seem that they are verbs of no movement
I couldn't think of that many more after parado/sentado/dormido though.
For the "-iendo"/"-ado" it may help to ask yourself if the "-ing" form is required in English or can it be replaced with a past participle? For the chair, you can say either "is sitting" or "is seated" and for James' "dormir" example you can say either "is sleeping" or "is asleep" so it's not really an action (and, in Spanish, is expressed with the past participle). If, however, you want to say "he's walking down the street"/"he's eating", etc. there's no reasonable way to avoid the "-ing" form in English and you want the "-iendo" in Spanish. That's why it's often called a "progressive" tense because there is an action that is in progress.
...so any ideas on doing those weird quotation marks on a Spanish keyboard
James Santiago said:
I think the whole reason this little exchange caught my eye might be that he was being sarcastic and is saying 'I'm sitting' in the same way as someone would say 'I'm working'
Yeah, it wasn't the best translation in the world, since the humor was lost or at least diminished. I would have been freer in my rendering. Maybe the translator just didn't get the joke in the original. This happens all the time in the tranz biz.
Of course maybe he wasn't being sarcastic but being 'brain-dead' and saying it exactly how it was. I'm thinking about checking the English version out from the library, to get a handle of some of the nuances I am undoubtedly missing, but it might be hard to resist the temptation to just read it instead. That's why I never really got on with those dual language books
I think the whole reason this little exchange caught my eye might be that he was being sarcastic and is saying 'I'm sitting' in the same way as someone would say 'I'm working'
Yeah, it wasn't the best translation in the world, since the humor was lost or at least diminished. I would have been freer in my rendering. Maybe the translator just didn't get the joke in the original. This happens all the time in the tranz biz.
James Santiago said:
So walking is a state even though you are doing something because you are not changing from one state to another'
I stand corrected; it really wasn't clear to you!
).
An action always involves change from one state to another
...well maybe I was thinking about it in terms of physics. 
I think the whole reason this little exchange caught my eye might be that he was being sarcastic and is saying 'I'm sitting' in the same way as someone would say 'I'm working'
So walking is a state even though you are doing something because you are not changing from one state to another'
I stand corrected; it really wasn't clear to you!
No, walking is an action, because you are changing with every step. Any kind of movement would normally be an action. Which is why sitting down is an action but just sitting (being in a seated position) is a state.
Another example of this difference between a state and an action is with sleep/dormir. We say "she is sleeping" more often than we say "ella está durmiendo" (action). Normally, we would say "ella está dormida," which is "she is asleep" (state).
samdie said:
tad said:
Sí, quise decir 'me estoy sentando'
"me estoy sentando" suggests that you were standing a moment ago and that you will be seated very shortly but right now your butt is approaching the chair. That is, you are in the act/process of sitting down.
Of course. I guess that's why I forgot the 'me' because I was thinking of sitting rather than sitting down and am equating -ing with -ando\iendo
James Santiago said:
To be honest I not to clear about what the difference between a state and an action is.
Sure you are. You just don't realize it.
"Estaba parado" probably means "I was standing." Here, standing is a state, not an action. If it were an action, we would normally use the preposition "up": I was standing up, meaning that I was in the process of moving to a standing position. An action always involves change from one state to another, while a state just refers to the, er, state. So a state is a photo to an action's movie.
"Estaba parado" is literally "I was stopped," but it is used to mean standing as well (as opposed to walking, etc.).
So walking is a state even though you are doing something because you are not changing from one state to another'
tad said:
Sí, quise decir 'me estoy sentando'
"me estoy sentando" suggests that you were standing a moment ago and that you will be seated very shortly but right now your butt is approaching the chair. That is, you are in the act/process of sitting down.
To be honest I not to clear about what the difference between a state and an action is.
Sure you are. You just don't realize it. 
"Estaba parado" probably means "I was standing." Here, standing is a state, not an action. If it were an action, we would normally use the preposition "up": I was standing up, meaning that I was in the process of moving to a standing position. An action always involves change from one state to another, while a state just refers to the, er, state. So a state is a photo to an action's movie.
"Estaba parado" is literally "I was stopped," but it is used to mean standing as well (as opposed to walking, etc.).
Sí, quise decir 'me estoy sentando'
Hm, I think I'll have to look into this a bit further, I seem to remember seeing 'estaba parado' and thinking that odd as well. To be honest I not to clear about what the difference between a state and an action is.
Tad wrote:
'Estoy sentado' I read as 'I am sat' but in the dictionary it says 'sitting' -but wouldn't this be 'Estoy sentando''
To address your specific question, you would only say "Me estoy sentando" if you were referring to the process of sitting down (and maybe not even then).
You are correct that "I'm sitting" is the proper translation in this context, but while "sitting" describes an action in English here, we have to use the past participle to refer to a state in Spanish. The joke therefore loses some of its punch in translation. Maybe a funnier and freer translation would have been "Estoy hablando con usted." (What are you doing here? I'm talking with you.)
Natasha said:
"sentado" -- seated is a better translation than "sitting"
solícito is not a verb here, but an adjective. solicitous / helpful
Sorry, I would like to know about the keyboard question myself.
Well, in the context of the book 'sitting' actually makes more sense as I think he was being a little sarcastic.
What are you doing here?
I'm sitting.
I don't think he would say 'I'm seated'.
"sentado" -- seated is a better translation than "sitting"
solícito is not a verb here, but an adjective. solicitous / helpful
Sorry, I would like to know about the keyboard question myself.
