Exercise about progressive tense

[laepelba]

I've just started an exercise that deals with the progressive tense, I've only done two (of 30) problems, and don't understand either one of them. Doh!

In these exercises, I am given two verbs to use together to fill in the blank using the progressive tense.

1) (ir, hablar) Ayer mi amigo iba hablando consigo mismo mientras caminaba.
Q: I didn't even know how to start this one. Of course, I understand that "hablando" is the present progressive for "hablar". And I think (??) that the sentence is saying that "yesterday my friend was walking around talking to himself". Is that right? Is it common for "ir" to be used with the progressive in this sense? Would you mind giving me a few more examples?

2) (seguir, ser) Aun después de estudiar el cálculo, _______________ difícil por un rato.
Q: I wrote "sigió siendo". The book had "seguirá siendo". Would either answer be okay? Again, does this mean something like "Even after studying calculus, it will continue (or continued) to be difficult for a while"???

Any guidance you can give me would be appreciated! I'll keep plugging on these exercises... Thanks!!

[Cuholvke]

1) That's correct. Ex: "Yo iba manejando por la avenida", "Yo iba corriendo por el parque", "Yo iba hablando por teléfono".

2) "siguió siendo" is imperfect past, it tells you that it was still difficult for a while but it doesn't tells you if it's still difficult right now or not. "seguirá siendo" tells you that even after studying it will be difficult for a while from now on.
"Even after studying calculus, it will continue (or continued) to be difficult for a while"

[laepelba]

Thank you, Cuholvke! A couple of quick follow up questions:

1) What would be the difference between saying "Ayer mi amigo iba hablando consigo mismo mientras caminaba" and "Ayer mi amigo estaba hablando consigo mismo mientras caminaba" and "Ayer mi amigo hablaba consigo mismo mientras caminaba"?

2) How would you say "Even after studying calculus, it continued to be difficult for a while"?

Thanks again!!

[chileno]

Originally Posted by laepelba

I've just started an exercise that deals with the progressive tense, I've only done two (of 30) problems, and don't understand either one of them. Doh!

In these exercises, I am given two verbs to use together to fill in the blank using the progressive tense.

1) (ir, hablar) Ayer mi amigo iba hablando consigo mismo mientras caminaba.
Q: I didn't even know how to start this one. Of course, I understand that "hablando" is the present progressive for "hablar". And I think (??) that the sentence is saying that "yesterday my friend was walking around talking to himself". Is that right? Is it common for "ir" to be used with the progressive in this sense? Would you mind giving me a few more examples?

2) (seguir, ser) Aun después de estudiar el cálculo, _______________ difícil por un rato.
Q: I wrote "sigió siendo". The book had "seguirá siendo". Would either answer be okay? Again, does this mean something like "Even after studying calculus, it will continue (or continued) to be difficult for a while"???

Any guidance you can give me would be appreciated! I'll keep plugging on these exercises... Thanks!!

To me, you answered both correctly. You just had the spelling error for "siguió"

This is one is very easy and I think you got it all right because it shows it by being able to say what it means.

The second phrase to me just needs context to make sense for either answer.

Aún después de estudiar cálculo por tres meses, siguió/seguirá siendo difícil por un tiempo más

Después de estudiar cálculo por tres meses, sigue siendo difícil todavía.

Aún, estudiando cálculo por tres meses, seguirá siendo difícil por un tiempo más

Originally Posted by laepelba

Thank you, Cuholvke! A couple of quick follow up questions:

1) What would be the difference between saying "Ayer mi amigo iba hablando consigo mismo mientras caminaba" and "Ayer mi amigo estaba hablando consigo mismo mientras caminaba" and "Ayer mi amigo hablaba consigo mismo mientras caminaba"?

2) How would you say "Even after studying calculus, it continued to be difficult for a while"?

Thanks again!!

Again, to me all three phrases mean the same.

For your second question, it is already answered above.

[Cuholvke]

Originally Posted by laepelba

Thank you, Cuholvke! A couple of quick follow up questions:

1) What would be the difference between saying "Ayer mi amigo iba hablando consigo mismo mientras caminaba" and "Ayer mi amigo estaba hablando consigo mismo mientras caminaba" and "Ayer mi amigo hablaba consigo mismo mientras caminaba"?

2) How would you say "Even after studying calculus, it continued to be difficult for a while"?

Thanks again!!

1)
"Ayer mi amigo "iba hablando" consigo mismo mientras caminaba"
"Yesterday my friend *(, while he was going somewhere,) was talking to himself while walking"
[By itself the term "iba" = "was going (somewhere)" so in this case it tells you that*. You don't know if he reached a place or not and you don't know if he is still talking to himself or not. Imperfect Continuous]

"Ayer mi amigo "estaba hablando" consigo mismo mientras caminaba"
"Yesterday my friend was (from there in the past / from that point in the past) talking to himselft while walking"
[He was in the state of talking to himself there and from that moment he was talking to himself until... (you don't know if the action ended). Imperfect Continuous]

"Ayer mi amigo "hablaba" consigo mismo mientras caminaba"
"Yesterday my friend was talking (in the past) to himself while walking"
[You don't know if he is still talking to himself or not. This one is Imperfect]


2)
"Even after studying calculus, it continued to be difficult for a while"
"Aún después de estudiar cáculo, éste siguió siendo difícil por un tiempo"


EDIT: There... I think I don't have to edit this anymore... 1 hour editing this post... hahaha.
EDIT2: Nevermind...

[laepelba]

Thank you, Cuholvke! Those explanations definitely make sense to me!! I appreciate the time you spent writing & editing the post.