tense

Question

Hi"Can you drive?" "I'm learning, my father is teaching me" --- Can't I say "my father teaches me"?"What did you do yesterday before 9 o'clock?" --- Is it better to use the progressive form,i.e., "What were you doing....."? Is the past simple OK too?Thanks

Philip · Accepted Answer

Learning to drive is an on-going process. I think the progressive form is better.

The same with the second sentence.

I don't think the simple tense is wrong in either case, but it sounds a bit odd.

Newguest · Answer

PhilipLearning to drive is an on-going process. I think the progressive form is better.

The same with the second sentence.

I don't think the simple tense is wrong in either case, but it sounds a bit odd.

I think I would say: I learn and my father teaches me. We practice everyday. (I'm not sure if I would use the progressive form)

Thanks

CalifJim · Answer

Newguest"Can you drive?" "I'm learning, my father is teaching me"

--- Can't I say "my father teaches me"?

No. He can only teach you to drive once, and he is now in the process of teaching you. The simple present is used for things that are done regularly, habitually, and/ore repetitively.
If you leave out the specific mention of driving, however, you can say, more generically,

My father teaches me how to do things. He taught me how to tune a car engine. He taught me how to install a sink. Next week he is going to teach me how to install a television antenna on the roof.

Newguest"What did you do yesterday before 9 o'clock?"

--- Is it better to use the progressive form,i.e., "What were you doing.."? Is the past simple OK too?

Neither is better. It depends what you want to know -- a list of accomplishments (What did you do?) or the naming of an activity (less often, activities) (What were you doing?) The accomplishments question makes no hint of relating the answer to anything else, but the activities question does.
-- What did you do yesterday before 9 o'clock?
-- I got up, got dressed, and drove to work.

___
-- What were you doing yesterday before 9 o'clock? [Thinking: -- because if you were out walking, you would have noticed what I did -- the house that was on fire in our neighborhood.]
-- I was driving to work. Why do you ask? What happened before 9? [What happened while I was driving to work?]

___
What were you doing yesterday before 9 o'clock? [Thinking: -- because if you were watching Channel 5, you would have seen that interesting program about dinosaurs -- which I know you have an interest in.]
-- I was watering the garden. Why? Did I miss something? [What did I miss while I was watering the garden?]
___
The progressive tenses very often imply a background on which some other event takes place.
CJ

Newguest · Answer

Thank you for the answers!

Newguest · Answer

Ok, from what you both wrote I understand that it should be "he's teaching" and "I'm learning" because this is something that is on-going and this is something that is happening only once over a certain period of time. It's quite clear to me that we both do it (teach and learn) every day or twice a week or three times a week (and this repetition would imply the use of the present simple tense in my view), but this is something that we keep doing every day and only for a certain period of time eg. one year. It's not like going to work for 30 years, because in this case we would say: I go to work instead of I'm going to work.

What about learning languages?

Are you learning languages Kate? Yes, I'm learning Spanish.

What about: Do you learn languages Kate? Yes, I learn Spanish every day.

I guess that the progressive form is better because it's an on-going process, however this process, unlike driving, may take years.

CalifJim · Answer

NewguestWhat about: ... Yes, I learn Spanish every day.

No! You can only learn Spanish once! This is the same situation as the previous one we discussed. For predicates like learn Spanish, there is very little use for the simple present. The learning is either on-going and is present, or it is finished and is past. You can't learn Spanish today and then learn it again tomorrow. It's like saying that you finish eating the same cake every day. Once it is eaten, there is no more to be eaten again!
Present: I am learning Spanish.
Past: I learned Spanish.
The predicate must be changed to allow the simple present:
I learn some Spanish every day.
I learn a little more Spanish every day.
I learn a little bit of Spanish every day.
I learn a different Spanish verb every day.
____
The verb learn is the problem here. learn implies the completion of the learning process. Any verb that implies a completion like this can only rarely, perhaps metaphorically, be used in the simple present -- unless you change other parts of the sentence, as I did above, to make the verb apply only partially.
So, you can say: I write a letter to Tom every day. (It means a different letter each day.)
But you can't say: *I write my first novel every day. (You can only write your first novel once.)
But you can say: I'm currently writing my first novel. (on-going)
And you can say: I write a chapter of my novel every day. (a different chapter)
___
Another example:
You can say: I'm painting my house. (on-going) It doesn't matter whether you mean that you're painting it at the moment you say those words, or whether you mean that over the course of many days that it normally takes to paint a house, you are periodically working on the project of painting your house. You can use this sentence in either case.
But you can't say: *I paint my house every day. (when you mean the following)
I paint another/different section of my house every day.
But you can say: I paint my house every day. (when you mean the following)
I paint my entire house every day.(I don't know anyone who does this, but it's theoretically possible! It seems like a lot of unnecessary work!)

___
To return to the cake:
You can say: I'm eating this cake. (on-going) Either you are eating while you say this, or you are eating a little of that cake periodically so that, eventually, it will be all eaten.
But you can't say: *I eat this cake every day. (when you mean the following)
I eat all of this same cake every day. (The same cake can't reappear after it has been eaten.)
But you can say: I eat this cake every day. (when you mean the following)
I eat some of this cake every day. Or I eat some of this kind of cake every day.
____
It's confusing, I suppose, because each verb acts a little differently. You are right to notice, by the way, that the typical time-period associated with any action will govern the verb tenses and other elements of any given sentence. Writing a novel every day or painting a house every day is not as likely as eating a cake every day, for example. (In the case of me and the cake, it's in fact quite likely!)
CJ

Newguest · Answer

Hello CalifJim! Thank you very much for your thorough and to the point explanations, they are always very helpful and I appreciate it a lot

I have one more question, however.

If it's correct to say: I'm learning Spanish instead of I learn Spanish, the correct question is Are you learning Spanish? or Are you learning languages? instead of Do you learn Spanish? or Do you learn languages?

I suppose that if I ask: Do you learn Spanish? it will be incorrect as it might mean that she/he learns some different Spanish every day AND if I ask: Are you learning Spanish? it will mean that the given person is learning the same language over a period of time, but not necessarily now while I'm talking to her/him. Is my reasoning correct?

One more thing. Can I say I'm learning Spanish and add every day, i.e., I'm learning Spanish every day. Or is this adverb of frequency reserved only for the simple present?

Thanks

CalifJim · Answer

NewguestIf it's correct to say: I'm learning Spanish instead of I learn Spanish, the correct question is Are you learning Spanish? or Are you learning languages? instead of Do you learn Spanish? or Do you learn languages? Yes. The correct question is Are you learning Spanish?
In the other case, however, you'll need something different to be idiomatic, because neither of your choices is quite what a native speaker would say. (I purposely avoided this in a previous post because I didn't want to trouble you with too much information all at once.) Here are some more idiomatic questions that are related to your examples.

Are you (currently) learning more than one language? How many languages are you learning? Are you taking (a lot of) language courses?

Do you like to learn languages? Do you like learning languages? Is learning languages one of your hobbies? Do you learn a new language every year? How many languages can you learn in two years?

NewguestI suppose that if I ask: Do you learn Spanish? it will be incorrect as it might mean that she/he learns some different Spanish every day AND if I ask: Are you learning Spanish? it will mean that the given person is learning the same language over a period of time, but not necessarily now while I'm talking to her/him. Is my reasoning correct?
Yes, your reasoning is impeccable.
NewguestOne more thing. Can I say I'm learning Spanish and add every day, i.e., I'm learning Spanish every day. Or is this adverb of frequency reserved only for the simple present?
Exactly as I'm learning Spanish every day it is not quite right, though it is borderline acceptable because it is understandable.
You can use an adverb of frequency with the progressive. That's not the problem. What you need is something that makes it mean "a part of Spanish", because you can't learn all of Spanish every day:
I'm learning more and more Spanish every day.
I'm learning a little bit of Spanish every day.
I'm learning new expressions in Spanish every day.
Again, the comparison might be eating a cake.
I'm eating this cake every day is not quite right. You need I'm eating a little more of this cake every day.
CJ

Newguest · Answer

Many thanks Calif for your all explanations and patience

Now it all seems to be much more clearer than before

Thank you!

Yoong Liat · Answer

NewguestWe practice everyday.

We practice every day.

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