Hi all,

I'm new to this site but have been learning Irish on and off for a couple years (mainly duo and trying to read nos.ie)

I'm struggling to understand something from the website Nualeargais:

The Progressive (an fhoirm leanúnach)
The progressive tense describes actions that are currently taking place, just like the English "continuous"-forms.
Colloquially, the present progressive tense is also used in place of the acutal[sic] present (the actual present appears colloquially only as habitual present, similar to English)

Is it just me or is this sentence really confusing?

So in colloquial Irish it is saying that they will use progressive (ex: ag ithe) to describe a standard present tense event (eng: Yes, I eat meat)? Am I correct there?

Then, is it saying that the actual present tense (I often eat chicken) appears in the habitual in colloquial Irish? (bím mé ag ithe sicín)?

And to top it off it ends "similar to English" which I just don't understand at all what part of English it is relating to.

If anyone could confirm or deny my thoughts that might help. Thanks!

http://nualeargais.ie/gnag/verbnom1.htm#Verlaufsform
It is a translation of the original German version - but still comparing the situation in German.
Simple present is more often used in German than its marginal progressive forms.

The translated version is outdated and often clumsy. I can't remember the German text at time of translation.
Today, this sentence is in German (http://www.braesicke.de/verbnom1.htm#Verlaufsform) :
Umgangssprachlich wird die Verlaufsform Präsens generell für Präsens-Handlungen verwendet.
(Colloquially, the present progressive form is generally used for present tense actions.)
(Probably still confusing )


General statements use habitual present:
I eat meat. (i.e. I am not a vegetarian) = Ithim feoil.


No, habitual present is normally used
Ithim sicín go minic. = I often eat chicken.
But it depends on the duration. If you spend much time eating chicken, you can say as well:
Bím ag ithe sicín go minic. (= I spend often some hours eating chicken)

(btw: bím ag ..., never bím mé ag ...)