Elena, when you talk about what people do GENERALLY, it sounds better with "ALL YOU DO IS...", however in a specific situation where your actions are considered ineffective, you can use DOING: "You may think you're helping the situation by talking to her about it, but all you're doing is making her angrier."
ты только и делаешь, что жалуешься на свою жизнь
User translations (3)
- 1.
All you do is complain about your life.
translation added by ⁌ ULY ⁍Gold ru-en10 - 2.
All you do is whine about your life.
translation added by Aleh LaGold ru-en3 - 3.
you do nothing but complain all the time/constantly
translation added by Камилла Сафина2
Discussion (4)
Thank you, Uly. This is excatly what I meant- that he/she is always complaining. That's why I used Present Continious.
Got it :)
Elena, what Uly is trying to say, is that if you're going to use the progressive, you have to give some indication of an underlying situation or context so that it will make sense, because we normally express this with the plain form of the verb. For example, in his example above, [situation] "talking to her about it" is considered ineffectual by the speaker, as he clarifies with the gerund: "all you're DOING is MAKING her angrier." However, with the plain form, you don't need an underlying situation - it is what it is, with GENERAL validity: (it's a fact that) all you DO is COMPLAIN about your life. Do you see the difference? The plain verb has GENERAL VALIDITY, where the gerund corresponds to a SPECIFIC SITUATION.