3. How is Paco feeling today?

Icono IDevice Listening activity

Present Continuous vs. Present Simple.

This song clearly shows the difference between the use of the present simple and the present continuous tenses.




Icono de iDevice Example exercise: revision of affirmative and negative forms

Fill in the blanks with the suitable form using the Present Continuous or the Present Simple

Paco's father
 

This is Antonio, Paco's father, speaking about his family.

'My name (to be) Antonio; l (to live) in the center of Cáceres with my family. Most people (to believe) we (to be) rich because we (to live) in a big house. But our family (to seem) to be like any other one. Have a look:

Isabel, my wife, (to like) cooking. She (to enjoy) being in the kitchen with her friends. At the moment she (to make) a cake and you can't talk to her.

What really (to worry) her is our daughter who (to prefer) to chat in front of her computer instead of cooking with her. Like many teenagers, Sonia (to think) it (to be) easier to get advice from someone you (not + to go to) see later. It's 5 pm. Paco, my son, (to play) basketball in the garden and I (to watch) TV, I (to wait) for this delicious cake that Isabel (to cook) . I told you, a family as yours. '


Icono de iDevice Example exercise: Reflection on the interrogative form.

Change these affirmative sentences into interrogative ones, taking into account the interrogative patterns:

PRESENT SIMPLE TENSE

Auxiliary + subject + verb + object?

PRESENT CONTINUOUS TENSE

To be + subject + verb –ing + object?

Examples: Sonia drinks coffee. >>> Does Sonia drink coffee?

Paco is playing football >>> Is Paco playing football?

  1. Sonia drinks coffee.
  2. Paco is playing football.
  3. I am dreaming about winning the lottery.
  4. Paco and Andrés study in Cáceres.
  5. Antonio and Isabel are watching TV.
  6. Paco's neighbour drives too fast.
Icono de iDevice

Read the sentences below and fill in the missing words.

  1. The train always on time. (TO LEAVE)
  2. 'What's the matter? Why ?' (YOU - TO CRY)
  3. That's strange. They TV now. (NOT TO WATCH)
  4. He very good English.
  5. Please be quiet! I my homework.
  6. Where ?
  7. Listen! John music!
  8. I never to the swimming pool.
  9. Harold Black's a famous pianist. He two or three concerts every week.
  10. He a lot and this week he's in New York.
  

Icono IDevice Curiosity

How is Paco feeling today?

Sometimes we find some confusion between the uses of the Present Continuous and the Present Simple Tenses. To avoid these misunderstandings, Spanish learners of English should not translate literally from English into Spanish.

If we translate this sentence into Spanish literally, it does not make any sense: ¿cómo se está sintiendo Paco hoy?. A more suitable translation would be using the Simple Present Tense: ¿cómo se siente Paco hoy?, ¿qué tal está Paco hoy?.

Something similar occurs with the expression How are you doing? when it is used as a greeting, and it means How are you?, or What's going on? which means ¿qué ocurre, qué pasa?

Here you have a brief revision about some usual greetings in English.


Icono IDevice Further knowledge
  • If you still have any doubt to distinguish the uses of the Present Simple and the Present Continuous tenses, learn more about them.
  • In order to revise both the affirmative and the negative forms as well as the interrogative ones, practice here with this test about the Present Simple and the Present Continuous tenses.

In the next section we are going to learn about intonation in English. It is not a difficult matter, but you need to pay attention to it and, above all, open your ears to identify the english intonation patterns.

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