Modern Spanish Grammar: A Practical Guide

TALKING ABOUT THE PRESENT 71.371.3Referring to events which are in the present but notin progressIn sentences such as ‘Your father’s calling you’, ‘Someone’s knocking at the door’, weare referring to events which are in the present, but not necessarily in progress at themoment of speaking. To talk about these we use the present tense.Tu padre te llama.Your father’s calling you.Alguien llama a la puerta.Someone’s knocking at the door.Ahora voy.I’m coming right away.In the first two examples the action itself may have already taken place, while in thethird this has not yet started.71.4Expressing timeless ideas or emotionsIdeas or emotions such as ‘Segovia is nice’, ‘I like Segovia’, ‘It’s an excellent idea’,may be considered as timeless, in so far as they are not linked to any specific time. Infact, they may be a reaction to a present, past or even a future event or situation. InSpanish, as in English, these ideas or emotions are normally expressed with thepresent tense.Segovia es bonita.Me gusta Segovia.Es una excelente idea.Segovia is nice.I like Segovia.It’s an excellent idea.71.571.5.1 Referring to events taking place in the presentEstar + gerundIn sentences such as ‘I’m writing a letter’, ‘The child is sleeping’, the action is takingplace at the moment of speaking. To refer to such events, Spanish usually uses estar, ‘tobe’, followed by a gerund (i.e. words like mirando, ‘looking’, comiendo, ‘eating’).Sometimes, this construction may be accompanied by an expression of time signallingthe present moment, for example ahora ‘now’, en este momento ‘at this moment’.20.1 (p. 96)Ahora está preparando la cena.He/she is preparing dinner now.Estoy mirando la televisión.I’m watching television.Están comiendo.They’re eating.400