Simple present tense indicating future plans or intentions.

Ian B.C1Kwiziq Q&A regular contributor

Simple present tense indicating future plans or intentions.

I had always understood that using the simple present tense or the compound "going to do something" worked exactly the same in English as Spanish. Something planned or intended for the future.  (Not the present continuous)

Visitamos a Lola este fin de semana.We are visiting Lola this weekend.
Vamos a visitar a Lola este fin de semana.We are going to visit Lola thei weekend.

All  the above sentences mean exactly the same thing.


Asked 4 years ago
InmaKwiziq team memberCorrect answer

Hola Ian

The main message in this lesson is to highlight the difference between the English:

I am seeing Jack this weekend.

and its equivalent in Spanish to convey the same thing (expressing something you are going to do):

Voy a ver a Jack este fin de semana.

If you compare the two structures used, in English you are using "am seeing" but the Spanish is using "am going to see".

So, if an English speaker is asked to say something like: "He is going out with her tonight" (future, but using the structure of the present continuous as in I am doing something now), he/she could wrongly think that in Spanish you can also use the present continuous structure, saying "Él está saliendo con ella esta noche" and that would be a mistake, because for this we'd use El Futuro Próximo: ''Él va a salir con ella esta noche".

I hope this clarified it

Saludos

Inma

InmaKwiziq team member

Hola Ian,

may I refer you to the answer given to John in this channel?

Inma

Simple present tense indicating future plans or intentions.

I had always understood that using the simple present tense or the compound "going to do something" worked exactly the same in English as Spanish. Something planned or intended for the future.  (Not the present continuous)

Visitamos a Lola este fin de semana.We are visiting Lola this weekend.
Vamos a visitar a Lola este fin de semana.We are going to visit Lola thei weekend.

All  the above sentences mean exactly the same thing.


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