Yo te había estado esperando?

In going through the course again, I'm trying to change the tense of the phrases (which is proving helpful in keeping things fresh). The phrase above seems logical but I have yet to see an example of it anywhere. Is it correct? - Yo te estoy esperando - I am waiting for you [the original phrase] - Yo te estaba esperando - I was waiting for you - Yo te he estado esperando - I have been waiting for you - Yo te había estado esperando - I had been waiting for you

Estoy haciendo el mismo cada cuando encontro ser y estar cuando estoy revisando las lecciones. Quiero seleccionar el tiempo correcto más rapido.

Dan, maybe you also can add the translation. In my Spanish class in the senior center, I find that while they were doing the verb conjugation in the present tense, I was doing the preterite and the past imperfect in my head. Anyways, Buenos dias todos. Es tan lindo en esta época. It is so beautiful in this season Still reviewing the past times in the Premium Plus. Thanks Steven for doing what you are doing. I get exposed to the other types of conjugations (verb)

Yo te había estado esperando - I had been waiting for you. Does this mean you no longer are waiting? I haven't touched the Platinum yet. I am repeating the Premium Plus and taking longer this time to finish a lesson. It might take a few months before I can start with the Platinum. .

Aurora: ¿Significas que debo añadir la traducción inglés de mi comentario en español? Puedo hacer eso. Do you mean that I should add the English translation of my comment in Spanish? I can do that.

>Yo te había estado esperando - I had been waiting for you. Does this mean you no longer are waiting? Hmmm...I also am wondering if you can even use the preterite with this type of sentence. In English, the sentence "I had been waiting" implies that we are no longer waiting. Likewise, "I have been waiting" implies that we are still waiting.

Hola a todos, Yo te había estado esperando. Yes, you are no longer waiting. (The past perfect, also called the pluperfect implies a cut off point prior to something else. Compare that to the present perfect which is used when speaking about something that was true in the past and "is still true". "I have lived here for ten years," means that ten years ago I lived here, I still live here and I have lived here all the time in between. Also used to to indicate that an an action was completed recently: I can't go out to lunch because "I have eaten".) The parenthesis indicate quoting and paraphrasing Dorothy Richmond. I don't think the preterite would work either with this type of sentence. Steven's sentences all seem correct to me and it's a great idea idea to put things in different tenses. Saludos, Ricardo

Hola a todos, Yo te había estado esperando. Yes, you are no longer waiting. I was not addressing the correct tense in my previous reply. I've deleted it as to not cause confusion. Here is a link to the progressive tenses and yes, there is a preterite progressive. Steven's sentences all seem correct to me and it's a great idea to put sentences into other tenses. If any of you read my reply the info was sound, but not for this, and I'm sorry for the error. http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/100047/progressive Saludos, Ricardo

OK - but I do notice that the document you give shows a "present perfect progressive" Ellos han estado durmiendo. (They have been sleeping.) and a "past perfect progressive" Yo había estado soñando. (I had been dreaming.) but no "preterite perfect progressive" such as (please don't shoot me) Yo hube estado soñando anoche. (I had been dreaming last night.) Is there such a thing? I was thinking no.

Hola Robert, I don't think the "preterite perfect progressive" exists either, if someone knows of it, please inform us."Please don't shoot me" seems like it's a polite form of the imperative. ¡Por favor! No me dispares porque cometí un error en mi respuesta anterior. Saludos, Ricardo

Many thanks for your help and contributions in the forum, Ricardo. Don't you all find it incredible how closely Spanish grammar is to English in these phrases (apart from the position of the "te")? - Yo (I) te (you) estoy (am) esperando (waiting) - Yo (I) te (you) estaba (was) esperando (waiting) - Yo (I) te (you) he (have) estado (been) esperando (waiting)

FYI actually more FMI (for my information) Present participles are used to express several continuous actions in Spanish. The present participle in Spanish ends in a form of -ndo, which is the equivalent to the English -ing ending. In Spanish, it is used to indicate several ongoing actions or states and habitual actions. • Él estaba leyendo. (He was reading.) • Sigo pensando en ti. (I keep thinking about you.) A note on using the term gerund In Spanish, the verb form that ends in -ndo is called gerundio and in English, present participle. While gerundio sounds much like the English word gerund, they are not quite the same thing. In English, the gerund and present participle have the same form; both end in -ing. But the gerund is a verb used as a noun (Swimming is fun.) and the present participle is used to form a progressive tense (I am swimming.) or it is used as an adjective (Did you buy those swimming shorts here?). In Spanish, there is no gerund as the only verb form that can function as a noun in Spanish is the infinitive. The gerundio is the present participle used as an adverb (Sigue buscando el perro.). The participio presente, or present participle, is the verb form that ends in -ndo and is used to indicate an ongoing or habitual action (Estoy buscando el perro.).

Aurora's post brings up a topic that confuses me, and I hope that someone can cause the grammatical scales to fall from my eyes. In English, we can use the present participle for actions that are occurring now or occurred in the past: Don't bother me, I am reading. I was reading the book when you called. But, I thought that I learned somewhere that the present participle cannot be used to describe actions that occured in the past.

Hola a todos, Steven, de nada amigo. I am no authority and I'm glad I have been of help when I can, I welcome corrections and different perspectives. I have read about the gerund distinction and some sources state it's kind of a matter of semantics. In any case for me, I try to internalize the usage because if I get too bogged down in grammar it can make my head swim. Dan, I'm not sure if the link I'm pasting is something I have already done but I hope it will help. http://www.learnalanguage.com/learn-spanish/spanish-verbs/past-progressive.php Saludos, Ricardo

Gracias por la enlace, Ricardo. Ahora entiendo que los tiempos presente progresivo y pasado progresivo son iguales, como ingles: I am learning Spanish. Estoy aprendiendo español. tiempo presente de estar + gerundio. I was reading. Estaba leyendo. tiempo imperfecto de estar + gerundio.

Since we have been talking about present participle and past progressive, gerund and gerundio, how about past participle?

I think we have to distinguish tenses from constructs. Participles and gerunds are constructs, and I think they both add -ing to the verb. As for tenses, we have progressive tenses and perfect tenses. Each has present, past, future, and in Spanish subjunctive. You can also have both paired together. present progressive: I am eating dinner past progressive: I was eating dinner future progressive: I will be eating dinner present perfect: I have eaten dinner past perfect: I had eaten dinner future perfect: I will have eaten dinner present progressive perfect: I have been eating dinner past progressive perfect: I had been eating dinner future progressive perfect: I will have been eating dinner That is just English. Now imagine all the different combinations in Spanish.

Hola a todos, Dan, me alegra que la información fue útil para ti. Aurora, past participle: No quiero comer porque he comido. Traducción: I don't want to eat because I have eaten. Past particple " comido". Robert's post just came up as I am typing and yes, imagine all the combinations in Spanish. Bueno, tengo sueño y voy a acostarme amigos. Hasta la próxima. Saludos, Ricardo

No wonder in the class at the senior center (maybe the teacher thinks the seniors will take longer to learn), she only teaches the present tense and will not explain verb conjugation, the placement of accents which I think is important in a beginning class. Maybe the first year, they just want to learn greetings and vocabulary building. I find that my learning accelerates when I understand the different grammar definitions. Just the contributions of the different participants increases the depth of my understanding. To be fair, the teacher actually wants me to attend the next level of Spanish. I still work full time and probably will retire in the next few months. By then I will have more free time. Just scared of the transition from a 40 hour work week to everyday is a weekend.

Aurora, re retiring: I worked pretty much full time from when I was 15 years old, until I had the great good fortune to retire from the fire department at age 55. Although I loved my former profession, I have not regretted my decision for a second. I think the difference between those of us who enjoy retirement and those who do not is planning. I had my second career as a photographer ready to roll the day after my retirement from my first career. In fact, I refer to what I did as "repurposement,"not retirement. And now I have the exciting challenge of learning a new language to occupy me. People who don't have a plan, who don't know what they are going to do, are the ones who don't truly enjoy retirement. Awhile back I learned that the Spanish verb that means to retire is jubilar. It sounds a lot like jubilant to me, and I could not describe my "retirement" any better than that. Re your class: I know that teachers don't want to pile on too much information too soon and overwhelm their students, but I think that a short, simple heads-up sort of presentation about conjugation, tilde placement, etc. would be helpful. I think back to practically the first RS lesson that used the word "gustaría." It was weeks, maybe months, before I connected that word to gustar or gusta. When I did, it made so much sense to me.

I actually worked as a Microbiologist for 31 years and retired when the hospital I worked built a larger facility and moved 20 miles away. I was recruited almost the next day to be a Microbiology supervisor in another hospital close to my home. I did that for 4 years and the management offered me another title as LIS (Laboratory Information System), takes care of the Computer system in the Clinical Laboratory and Point of Care Coordinator (POC). I managed the instruments that are being done outside of the laboratory. These are tests that are being performed by nurses. POC is a fine job, just time consuming. This year is my 14th year of doing this. I didn't realize I have been doing this job this long until they invited me last month for service awards presentation. The jobs actually make me feel young. I work with younger colleagues and not notice the difference in our ages. I truly am still really enjoying it. The greatest advantage I can think of retirement is to be able to take a nap whenever I feel like it instead of more coffee.