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From: pablo@nena.hrz.uni-bielefeld.de (C. Pablo Mendez Cardenas)
Subject: Re: Spanish IR + Present Participle
Message-ID: <tqspib41wl.fsf@nena.hrz.uni-bielefeld.de>
Sender: pablo@nena.hrz.uni-bielefeld.de
In-Reply-To: s25@ctdvx5.priv.ornl.gov's message of 20 Dec 95 09:40:33 EST
Date: Sun, 24 Dec 1995 02:43:38 GMT
Reply-To: Pablo Mendez Cardenas <pablo@hrz.uni-bielefeld.de>
References: <4b5fnv$3g5@cville-srv.wam.umd.edu>
	<1995Dec20.094033.1@ctdvx5.priv.ornl.gov>
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Organization: Rechenzentrum der Universitaet Bielefeld.
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>> ..Y vamos abriendo puertas...
  We are on the verge of opening doors.

>> ..y vamos cerrando heridas...
  We are on the verge of healing up wounds.

>> I was wondering if this construction is common in Colombia/Venezuela as 
>> the man who wrote all 10 songs on the album, Kike Santander, is 
>> Colombian.
 It is by way of exception perfect Spanish considering it comes from a
modern singer. For once in a while there is no influence from a foreign
languange either (no spanglish!)


>> Anyone familiar with this construction?  I have to guess at the general 
>> meaning (though its not too difficult, due to the similary between this 
>> and the ESTAR + present participle [= progressive].)  What I can gather 
>> is that is may be a replacement for estar + pr.pp, or ir + infinitive.

> Not a replacement really. Estar+present participle indicates an action
> that is going on in the present time. Ir+present particle indicates a
> more habitual action, something that is going on in the present, has
> occurred often in the past, and is likely to occur again in the future.
> So, "vamos abriendo puertas" means something like "we keep on opening
> doors", or "we go on opening doors".

 Not exactly:
 Estar + gerundium = (more or less) be + Gerundium.
 ir    + gerundium, it expresses something different in a very subtle way.
 It doesn't have to ocurre in the past neither in the future but it is
something which has just begun and it will continue happening a while until
it is finished, but mostly there is a subjective effort for that or it is
something which only gradually evolves. There is no direct translation for
that!
 verbigratia:
  ya voy entendiendo el libro=I am beginning to understand the book(
implicitily after so much work with it)
  ya va anocheciendo=it is getting dark little by little(you can already
notice the first signs of the process which is going to last a while)
  la situacion economica va mejorando=the situation begins (only) gradually
to get better.
-- 
                                       Pablo Mendez Cardenas.
                                       Fakultaet fuer Mathematik
                                       Rechenzentrum der Universitaet Bielefeld
                                       Deutschland.
