Venir as an auxiliary verb

[laepelba]

A Mexican friend sometimes uses "venir" with a gerundio and I'm not quite sure what she means.

A recent text message from her reads like this: "Vengo llegando del super y ....." I assumed she meant that she's at the grocery store (right?). But I don't really understand the construction enough to be able to reproduce it.

In my dictionary, it says that "venir" can be used with a gerundio as an "auxiliary verb" and gives the following examples:
- hace mucho que lo venía diciendo I'd been saying so all along;
- viene trabajando aquí desde hace muchos años he has been working here for many years

I honestly don't get the purpose/function of the "venir" in those sentences.

Any suggestions you could give me would be greatly appreciated!

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Originally Posted by laepelba

In my dictionary, it says that "venir" can be used with a gerundio as an "auxiliary verb" and gives the following examples:
- hace mucho que lo venía diciendo I'd been saying so all along;
- viene trabajando aquí desde hace muchos años he has been working here for many years

These examples show a use of the verb "venir" (also "ir) with a gerundio, where they're referring to gradual processes that have been happening for long.

Originally Posted by laepelba

"Vengo llegando del super y ....." I assumed she meant that she's at the grocery store (right?).

No, she's actually just coming back home from the supermarket.

This is a figurative use of the same combination to mark an emphasis on the thing that I have just done, but I'm talking as if I'm entering the house, still carrying the groceries... as if the gradual process of arriving from the grocery store were still going on.

[laepelba]

Okay - I'll keep listening for it. It seems to me like the use of "estar" ... if she wrote "estoy llegando del super...." I would have totally understood that she's just now walking in the door to her house from the store.... Is it similar to that sense?

[pinosilano]

Originally Posted by AngelicaDeAlquezar

as if the gradual process of arriving from the grocery store were still going on.

I agreed with this 'sensation'.

Ímplica la experiencia de la acción; toda la historia vivida desde que salió del negocio, hasta llegar a la casa.

MHO

[laepelba]

Originally Posted by pinosilano

Ímplica la experiencia de la acción; toda la historia vivida desde que salió del negocio, hasta llegar a la casa.

I'm not sure what you mean by "toda la historia vivida" ("the whole vivid story"?) ... the context was that we had a 5:30 appointment, but some things came up during the day, and she told me that she would let me know at 4:00 if she would need to cancel. She sent me the message saying "Vengo llegando del super..." at about 4:00 and told me that she IS available for the 5:30 appointment after all.....

[pinosilano]

Originally Posted by laepelba

I'm not sure what you mean by "toda la historia vivida" ("the whole vivid story"?) ... the context was that we had a 5:30 appointment, but some things came up during the day, and she told me that she would let me know at 4:00 if she would need to cancel. She sent me the message saying "Vengo llegando del super..." at about 4:00 and told me that she IS available for the 5:30 appointment after all.....

la experiencia de la acción = "toda la historia vivida"
Ella tenía una cita contigo pero no estaba segura de poder respetarla, sin embargo logró hacer todo para cumplir con susodicha cita.
Cuando te llama para comunicártelo te dice "vengo llegando del super" y con esa frase da la impresión que tuvo que ajetrear mucho para poder encontrarse contigo a la 5.30pm.
Si te hubiese dicho "fuí al Super y volví" o " volví del super", te habría informado de una acción con mucho menos importancia que "vengo llegando del super".
Es una sutileza (subtlety) de la comunicación. Hace pensar que cuando se encuentren, inmediatamente te contará todo lo que tuvo que hacer para estar lista a las 5.30pm.
¡Santo Cielo en qué lío me metí!!!

[laepelba]

I'm so sorry - I greatly appreciate your efforts to explain this to me, but I don't speak enough Spanish to actually follow your explanation. Although I can translate each word, the sense of it doesn't make sense to me...........

[Rusty]

vivida = lived
toda la historia vivida = all that has transpired, all that's been experienced

Does that help?

[laepelba]

Thanks, Rusty. That explains the "toda la historia vivida" ... but I still can't follow the rest of what was said in post #6... I think that I've got some silly mental block or something. How difficult can it be for someone to tell me that they are just arriving at home from the grocery store?

[pinosilano]

Originally Posted by laepelba

I'm so sorry - I greatly appreciate your efforts to explain this to me, but I don't speak enough Spanish to actually follow your explanation. Although I can translate each word, the sense of it doesn't make sense to me...........

For a while I thought to try an explanation in english but I was sure it would be worse.
I'm sorry.

[laepelba]

Don't be sorry - I'm sorry. My Spanish ought to be good enough to follow explanations about Spanish in Spanish. But I can't always.... Where are you from?

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by pinosilano

"vengo llegando del super" ..."fuí al Super y volví" o " volví del super", !

Originally Posted by laepelba

How difficult can it be for someone to tell me that they are just arriving at home from the grocery store?

I think @pinosilano is trying to explain a subtlety which does not really translate in to English. Something like the difference between "I've only just this minute got back from the supermarket" and "I've been to the supermarket and now I'm back".

[pinosilano]

Originally Posted by laepelba

Thanks, Rusty. That explains the "toda la historia vivida" ... but I still can't follow the rest of what was said in post #6... I think that I've got some silly mental block or something. How difficult can it be for someone to tell me that they are just arriving at home from the grocery store?

Gabriel García Márquez call these subtleties "carpintería de la comunicación"

Edit.
Thanks Perikles

[laepelba]

Thanks, gentlemen! I LOVE that there are such subtleties in the Spanish language that they cannot be explained in English - it's one of the things that has me really falling in love with the Spanish language. I think that I'm just out of reach of some of them, though... I keep plugging along.....

[pinosilano]

Originally Posted by laepelba

Thanks, gentlemen! I LOVE that there are such subtleties in the Spanish language that they cannot be explained in English - it's one of the things that has me really falling in love with the Spanish language. I think that I'm just out of reach of some of them, though... I keep plugging along.....

[chileno]

Originally Posted by laepelba

Thanks, gentlemen! I LOVE that there are such subtleties in the Spanish language that they cannot be explained in English - it's one of the things that has me really falling in love with the Spanish language. I think that I'm just out of reach of some of them, though... I keep plugging along.....

Sorry, shouldn't that be "plowing away"?

[Cloudgazer]

Originally Posted by chileno

Sorry, shouldn't that be "plowing away"?

Some of the things that come to mind for this are "I keep plugging along", "I keep plowing along", "I'll keep plugging away at it", and "I'll keep plowing away at it". (Also, "plowing" sounds much more strenuous than "plugging".)

[laepelba]

That might just all be a regional thing. I don't know that I would use "plowing" in that sense in any context......

[Cloudgazer]

I come from a tradition of farming, so it might be!

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by chileno

Sorry, shouldn't that be "plowing away"?

no - ploughing away