Grammar – ‘I Don’t Like When You Do Something’ or ‘I Don’t Like When You Are Doing Something’?

grammarpresent-continuouspresent-simple

Tell me please which tense I have to use in the following sentence.

I don't like it when you are sticking out/you stick out your tongue.

I sometimes hear natives use the present continuous, even though the people weren't doing a certain action.

Best Answer

Neither sentence is formed idiomatically, but (if rephrased) either tense is fine.

I don't like it when you are sticking out your tongue.

This means you don't like it when I am in engaged in the activity of sticking out my tongue. For instance, possibly it makes my face look strange.

I don't like it when you stick out your tongue.

This means you don't like it when I do stick out my tongue. It's not talking about the process as I'm in the middle of it necessarily, just the overall action itself. For instance, you might think it's rude.