Learn Hardcore Spanish (Spain): Es una falta de modales mirar el móvil mientras otra persona te escucha. - It is bad manners to look at your phone while another person is listening to you.

In Spanish, when you talk about an action in general as a thing (a concept), you normally use the infinitive, not -ing forms or a finite verb with que.

Mirar el móvil here works like a noun phrase: “looking at the phone.”
The structure is: Es una falta de modales + [infinitive].

You could compare:

Es una falta de modales mirar el móvil.
→ Literally: “To look at the phone is a lack of manners.”

Using mirando (Es una falta de modales mirando el móvil) is not grammatical in standard Spanish in this position.

You could say:

Es una falta de modales que mires el móvil
but this slightly changes the structure: now you have que + subjunctive, which is also correct but feels a bit more formal / structured. The original with the infinitive is more typical and natural.

Why is it el móvil and not tu móvil, even though in English we’d often say “your phone”?

Spanish often uses the definite article el / la instead of a possessive when the possession is obvious from context or when the idea is general:

Mirar el móvil here doesn’t care whose phone it is; it just refers to using your phone while someone listens to you in general.
If you said mirar tu móvil, you’d be focusing on your specific phone, not the general behavior.

So:

Es una falta de modales mirar el móvil
≈ “It’s bad manners to look at your phone” (in general, any situation, any person).

What’s the nuance of móvil here? Is it the same as teléfono?

In Spain:

el móvil = mobile phone / cell phone / smartphone (most common word in everyday speech).
el teléfono can be:
- a landline phone,
- or just “the phone” in general, but in casual talk móvil is much more specific and natural for your smartphone.

In many Latin American countries, the usual word is el celular, not el móvil.

So for Peninsular Spanish, mirar el móvil is exactly the normal way to say “look at your phone.”

Why is it mirar el móvil and not usar el móvil or ver el móvil?

Each verb has a slightly different nuance:

mirar el móvil = literally “to look at the phone,” focusing on your eyes on the screen.
usar el móvil = “to use the phone,” focusing on the use or operation.
ver el móvil = “to see the phone,” simply perceiving it visually, not necessarily using it.

In this context, the idea is that your attention is on the screen instead of on the person listening, so mirar el móvil is the most natural choice. It suggests you’re visibly looking at the screen and thus being rude.

Why is mientras otra persona te escucha using the indicative (escucha) and not the subjunctive (escuche)?

Mientras can take either indicative or subjunctive, but the meaning changes:

Indicative (mientras otra persona te escucha) is used for:
- real, factual, or typical simultaneous actions.
- Here: “while another person is listening to you” (describing a normal, general situation).
Subjunctive with mientras is used when the action is seen as future / hypothetical:
- Te llamaré mientras esté en casa.
  “I’ll call you while I’m at home.”

In the sentence:

Es una falta de modales mirar el móvil mientras otra persona te escucha.
we’re talking about a typical real situation (someone is actually listening to you), so the indicative escucha is the right choice.

Why is it te escucha and not te está escuchando, since in English we’d say “is listening to you”?

Spanish uses the simple present much more than English to talk about actions that are happening right now or at the same time as something else:

otra persona te escucha = “another person is listening to you.”

The progressive form te está escuchando exists, but it:

feels more emphatic about the ongoing process, and
is not needed in general statements.

For a general rule or typical behavior (“It’s bad manners to X while Y is happening”), Spanish strongly prefers:

…mientras otra persona te escucha.

What’s the difference between escuchar and oír here? Could we say mientras otra persona te oye?

Yes, you could say te oye, but the nuance is different:

escuchar = to listen (intentional, paying attention).
oír = to hear (sound reaches your ears, not necessarily paying attention).

In this context, the idea is that the other person is actively listening to you (giving you attention), so escuchar is more precise and polite:

…mientras otra persona te escucha
→ “…while another person is (actively) listening to you.”

…te oye would sound more like “while another person hears you,” which weakens the idea of respectful, attentive listening.

What exactly does una falta de modales mean, and how is it different from mala educación?

Both refer to bad behavior, but the nuance is slightly different:

una falta de modales
- literally: “a lack of manners”
- very concrete: a specific act that goes against social etiquette.
- e.g. Eructar en la mesa es una falta de modales.
  “Burping at the table is bad manners.”
mala educación
- literally: “bad upbringing”
- can refer to general rudeness, poor social education, or badly brought-up behavior, not just one isolated act.

In everyday speech in Spain, people also say:

Es de mala educación mirar el móvil… = “It’s rude / It shows bad manners to look at your phone…”

But una falta de modales fits nicely because it points to the specific rude action.

Why does it say es una falta de modales and not just es falta de modales?

Both are possible, but the article una has a slight effect:

Es una falta de modales…
- treats the behavior as one type of rude act among many.
- very natural in spoken Spanish.
Es falta de modales…
- slightly more abstract or general.
- still correct, but less common in everyday speech in this exact pattern.

In practice, Spaniards very often use una in this sort of sentence:

Es una falta de respeto.
Es una falta de consideración.
Es una falta de modales.

Why otra persona instead of something like alguien or otra gente?

Each choice has a different feel:

otra persona
- literal: “another person.”
- very clear, neutral, and slightly more formal/polite.
- Emphasizes that there’s a specific individual there with you.
alguien = “someone”
- more vague: doesn’t specify if it’s “another” person or just any person.
otra gente is not idiomatic:
- gente is a collective noun (like “people” in English when used as a mass noun).
- You normally say otra gente in contexts like “other people (in general),” but here we are contrasting you with one other person in a conversation, so otra persona is better.

So otra persona clearly gives the idea of a one-to-one interaction: you and someone else.

Could we change the word order to mientras te escucha otra persona? Is that different?

Yes, you can say:

…mientras otra persona te escucha.
…mientras te escucha otra persona.

Both are grammatically correct and mean the same thing.

The difference in practice:

otra persona te escucha is the most neutral and common order.
te escucha otra persona slightly emphasizes otra persona (like: “…while it’s another person who is listening to you”). But the difference is subtle; both sound natural.

Why is the pronoun te before escucha instead of after the verb (escucha te)?

Object pronouns like me, te, lo, la, nos, os, los, las normally go before a conjugated verb:

otra persona te escucha = another person listens to you.
te escucha otra persona = the same, different emphasis/order.

They only go after the verb (attached to it) in these cases:

Infinitive: escucharte
Gerund: escuchándote
Affirmative command: escúchame, escúchame tú

Since escucha here is a normal present tense form (not infinitive, gerund, or command), the pronoun must go before: te escucha.

What is the subject of es in Es una falta de modales…? Is this like the English “it is”?

Yes, it works similarly to English “it is” in impersonal statements.

In Spanish, you don’t need to say ello or eso; you just say Es una falta de modales…
The real “subject” idea is the entire infinitive phrase mirar el móvil mientras otra persona te escucha, but grammatically Spanish just starts with Es…:

So you can reframe it as:

Mirar el móvil mientras otra persona te escucha es una falta de modales.

The original version:

Es una falta de modales mirar el móvil mientras otra persona te escucha.

is more natural because it puts the long clause at the end and starts with the comment (Es una falta de modales…).