How an event unfolds
Is the event in progress, finished, repeated, or connected to now?
Meaning
The same event can be presented as in progress, complete, repeated, or connected to now. This helps show whether we are describing an action as it unfolds, a habit, or a result that matters now. Some languages use special verb forms; others have no such forms and rely on other words or context. Past, present and future places an event in time, while How an event unfolds shows how we view it.
How to spot it
Check whether the wording shows an event as ongoing, complete, repeated, or connected to another time, rather than simply saying when it happens.
In your native language
English uses continuous forms, built with be and the -ing form, to show an event in progress. Perfect forms, built with have and the past participle, a form such as cleaned or eaten, connect an event to a later time, often now. Simple forms can describe habits or present an event as a whole, depending on the verb and context.
Nora is cleaning the kitchen.
The cleaning is in progress now.
Nora has cleaned the kitchen.
The cleaning is complete, and the clean kitchen matters now.
Nora cleans the kitchen every Saturday.
The simple form describes a habit, not an action necessarily happening now.
In your learning language
The contrast between pretérito indefinido and pretérito imperfecto lets Spanish present a past event as a whole or describe a past situation, habit, or event in progress. Estar plus an -ando/-iendo form (gerundio) highlights an action in progress. Haber plus a past participle, a form such as leído, relates an earlier event to another time; use of the present perfect, such as he leído, varies by region.
De niño, iba a la playa todos los veranos.
As a child, I went to the beach every summer.
Iba uses pretérito imperfecto to describe a past habit.
Ayer fui a la playa.
I went to the beach yesterday.
Fui uses pretérito indefinido to present one visit as a whole event.
Estoy leyendo el libro que me has prestado.
I'm reading the book you lent me.
Estoy leyendo highlights ongoing reading; has prestado presents earlier lending as relevant to the current situation.
Learners whose language has just one past form may treat pretérito indefinido and pretérito imperfecto as interchangeable. Learners whose language routinely marks actions happening now with a continuous form may overuse estar forms, since Spanish present forms can also describe current actions.