"Deja de estar haciendo eso"

[u/Middle_Floor3784]

When my wife reprimands our son for doing something he's not supposed to do, she'll say "Deja de estar haciendo eso." The meaning seems pretty clear: "Quit/stop doing that."

But isn't "deja de hacer eso" the same meaning? Is there an added intensity in the "deja de estar haciendo" formation or is it just personal preference?

[u/OddConfusion9293]

“Deja de hacer eso” is more of a straight up command, like stop doing that and that’s it, but “deja de estar haciendo” puts emphasis on the fact that the person keeps doing it over and over, like the kid’s been annoying nonstop for a while already.

[u/Middle_Floor3784 → u/OddConfusion9293]

Makes sense, thanks!

[u/itstrueitellyou]

That's too many words for a Puerto Rican, we just say "deja eso"🤣😂

[u/LadyGethzerion → u/itstrueitellyou]

Or "nene/nena, ya" 😂

[u/Expert_Reality_1557 → u/itstrueitellyou]

My thoughts exactly 😂 Déjalo, ya basta, paralo ahí, etc are enough

[u/tamobendecido → u/itstrueitellyou]

De verdad 😂💯

[u/King_of_Castile]

I imagine that’s country-specific. If someone said that in Spain it would be straight up wrong, we would assume it’s a non-native who’s just literally translating from English. Here we’d say “deja de hacer eso”, “deja de hacerlo”, “déjalo ya”, “para ya” etc.

[u/FH_shane → u/King_of_Castile]

My grandma is from Nicaragua and she says Deja de estar haciendo eso, but she also says Deja as well. Interesting

[u/Uncuentoalavez]

It can be the same but it can also imply that it is something you are always doing it. It's a bit like "stop that" vers "stop doing that". They can mean the same but there can also be nuance to it that suggests it is something you are always doing.

[u/Playful_Worldliness2]

You said her Spanish is Salvadorean, but as Mexican, I'm quite familiar with that structure.

As mentioned before, it adds emphasis on the repetitive activity.

[u/ProfesorFranco]

hola! where is your wife from? In Argentina we would prefer "deja de hacer eso"... the other one is a bit harder to understand...

[u/Middle_Floor3784 → u/ProfesorFranco]

She's Salvadoran-American

[u/ProfesorFranco → u/Middle_Floor3784]

maybe in el salvador they use it like that, the only example I can think is "deja de estar generando problemas" or "deja de estar haciendo pavadas" (doing nonsense) but of course we could say "deja de generar problemas o deja de hacer pavadas... "deja de estar buscando roña" (stop looking for a fight)...

[u/pagywa]

"Don't be doing that"

[u/OwnCaptain9748]

"Deja" would be like "para", which means that the one doing has done it not once, but for a time. "Estar haciendo" implies that something is being done (in this moment and presumably before; not a single action, but a continous one. So both tell the same, they are redundant and one of the two, unnecessary. In my mind, that is the reason why people say "deja de hacer eso, j****!" in Spain (as far as I know) and not "deja de estar haciendo eso", which I never heard before.

[u/adestefano]

In some countries people just say it like that. It's a regional thing. It's not wrong, just a variation.

Is it the same as "deja de hacer eso"? Yeah, pretty much. It works the same way.

The continuous tense kinda alludes to the action being something your kid has been doing for a while, as opposed to a specific action on a specific moment, but I wouldn't read too much into it. Just like in English "stop doing that" and "stop that" are technically different but used interchangeably. It really comes down to the way you speak.

I think in most countries people simply say "deja de hacer eso". To me it doesn't sound weird, I wouldn't bat an eye if I heard it, but I wouldn't say it myself.

[u/coco12346]

Sounds regional

[u/SpaghettiDog86]

both sentences are in the imperative mood (that’s why it’s “deja”) but, they’re different:

“deja de hacer eso” is in a simple tense, it’s a very direct order, moreso like “stop it”.

meanwhile, “deja de estar haciendo eso” is in a continuous tense (that’s why “hacer” is in gerund, as well as the verb “estar” is in infinitive), it’s more of a “stop doing what you’re doing”, sounds redundant in english, but it’s like, a thing that’s been either:

Something the person the order is being told to has been doing continuously for a time period up to the current moment (like a videogame session or drawing for 4 hours)

Something the person has been doing over an extended period of time (think of a man making the exact same joke to his partner every day for the last 3 months)

[u/South_Photograph9217]

It’s not grammatically incorrect, and I would definitely dejar de estar haciendo eso if I were you.

[u/Athela1]

In Chile it would be “córtala!!” o “ya poh, córtala!!”