A Question

[LivetoErr]

Duolingo says, "Veo que tú lees" means, "I see that you are reading".

Why, in this case, is lees 'reading' and not 'read'? Don't you need to add -endo to make it an -ing?

To me, veo que tú lees is I see that you read so I'm confused.

[Español]

  On 1/26/2014 at 6:26 AM, LivetoErr said:

Duolingo says, "Veo que tú lees" means, "I see that you are reading".

Why, in this case, is lees 'reading' and not 'read'? Don't you need to add -endo to make it an -ing?

To me, veo que tú lees is I see that you read so I'm confused.

Hello.

Veo que tú estás leyendo = I see that you are reading

Veo que tú lees = I see that you read.

The "ing" form in spanish means "ando, endo".

[LivetoErr]

Well, that is what I thought but duolingo marked me wrong and said that it should have been "reading."

I felt it was an error on duolingo's part but I wanted to make sure. Thank god, as I'm confused enough as is.

Thanks for your answer!

[Linguetronix]

As far as I understand it, adding an -ando or an -iendo ending means you are "In the process of doing that action right now". So, for instance if I saw some books on your shelf, that weren't there the last time I visited, I could say, "Veo que tu lees" and that would translate in English to, "I see that you are reading", but since you aren't "in the process of reading", I can't use the leyendo form. I will wait for someone who is bilingual to confirm.

[Androu1]

I am a native Spanish speaker. Español is correct.

Veo que tú lees = I see that you read

Veo que tú estas leyendo = I see that you are reading

I can't think of any situation in which "lees" would have the same meaning as "reading".

[joeldeperu]

  On 2/18/2014 at 4:56 PM, Linguetronix said:

As far as I understand it, adding an -ando or an -iendo ending means you are "In the process of doing that action right now". So, for instance if I saw some books on your shelf, that weren't there the last time I visited, I could say, "Veo que tu lees" and that would translate in English to, "I see that you are reading", but since you aren't "in the process of reading", I can't use the leyendo form. I will wait for someone who is bilingual to confirm.

Hi there. My mother tongue is Spanish and you are right. In this example, you can not use "ando" or "iendo" at the end of a verb. For example, if you see your friend reading a book then you can say: Veo que estás leyendo, because he is doing it now. Another example could be: ¿Qué estas cocinando? if you see someone in the kitchen preparing meal.

[babyleans]

I'm not a native speaker but i thought i read somewhere that both can be used when the process is still taking place. For example, "Mi mamá viene" and "Mi mama está viniendo" both mean "My mother is coming"

[czarina84]

  On 8/4/2014 at 10:18 PM, joeldeperu said:

Hi there. My mother tongue is Spanish and you are right. In this example, you can not use "ando" or "iendo" at the end of a verb. For example, if you see your friend reading a book then you can say: Veo que estás leyendo, because he is doing it now. Another example could be: ¿Qué estas cocinando? if you see someone in the kitchen preparing meal.

But isn't that what the question is about?  Wasn't the statement, "I see that you are reading", making it an action that is happening at the moment of the statement?  I am also confused.