Simple and progressive forms

[Firionel]

I am starting to be confused by the problem of

"you write letters" vs "you are writing letters"

Does Spanish provide for a separate form for this in some way (or is there another reason why the progressive form is a bad translation of the Spanish present tense)?

[KikiJ]

There is a progressive form in Spanish -- it is estar plus the present participle. Thus, estoy escribiendo-- which means I am writing or estas escribiendo you are writing, etc. It means that you are literally performing the action at the time. Estoy escribiendo esta respusta ahora por exemplo.

[isahayajoe]

As KikiJ notes, the progressive form exists, but in my (albeit limited) experience it's not used as much as we English speakers use our ~ing forms: it's much more common in Spanish to use the present form for the progressive. In other words, I agree with your implied question, Firionel: I don't think that the progressive form is a bad translation of the present tense.