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The Verb and the Verb Phrase English-Spanish

Tense and aspect. The Present Tense(s). Translation possibilities English-Spanish

EC 3rd year English. R. Rabadán 2006

The case for preventive war rests on the assumption that we have near-perfect intelligence about the enemy's intentions and capabilities.El argumento a favor de la guerra preventiva descansa en la suposición de que tenemos un sistema de inteligencia casi perfecto sobre las intenciones y la capacidad del enemigo. [AT]

• English meanings ‘present’, ‘habit’, and ‘retrospective’ and ‘atemporal present’ are always conveyed by a presente form in Spanish.

We are living in Ottawa for the summer, the rest of the year we live in Spain.

• English meaning ‘temporary habit’ is encoded by means of the periphrastic present <Estar +gerund>.

I 'm getting seriously worried about anti-Americanism. Anti-Americanism in America, that is.

Me empieza a preocupar seriamente el antiamericanismo. Me refiero al antiamericanismo en Estados Unidos.

• English ‘iterative’ and ‘inchoative’ presents may be encoded by means of the two forms, presente and periphrastic present <Estar +gerund> in Spanish. Whether one or the other is selected depends on the lexical meaning of the verb and contextual information, particularly adverbial complementation: the key is that the ‘part-of-period’ meaning should be sufficiently clear.

A staggering twenty-two percent of all the children in the U.S. are living in poverty.

Un asombroso 22 % de los niños de EE UU viven en la pobreza.

• English ‘progressive’ meaning may be conveyed by the presente and the periphrastic present <Estar +gerund>. The central meaning of the latter form is precisely ‘progressive’, but the presente tends to be preferred whenever there is a more specific meaning of ‘state’ or ‘unrestricted ongoing process in the present’. When a ‘progressive’ refers to an ‘ongoing process/event here and now’ Spanish uses the periphrastic present <Estar +gerund>.

Stafford had another request. "When Air Force One takes off, can it have fighter escorts?"Stafford tenía otra pregunta: —Cuando el Air Force One despegue, ¿pueden escoltarle aviones de combate?

• English forms indicating ‘virtuality’ will normally be transformed into a subjunctive form in Spanish, although the presenteand the periphrastic present <Estar+gerund> are the choice in conditional contexts of the ‘possible’ type.

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Thank God Lucy arrives the day after tomorrow.

Gracias a Dios Lucy llega pasado mañana.

• English ‘future’ readings of the present forms may be conveyed in Spanish by means of a presente, a periphrastic future <ir a + inf> or a straight futuro, in this order of preference.

The dissolution of the Soviet Union leaves the US as the planet's unchallenged and unchallengeable superpower

La disolución de la Unión Soviética ha convertido a EE UU en la potencia imbatida e imbatible del

planeta.

• ‘Resultative’ presents in English will be expressed in Spanish by means of a presente or a pretérito perfecto.