These sentences refer to a real situation:
A1. I see an aeroplane flying.
A2. I can see an aeroplane flying.
A3. I am seeing an aeroplane flying.
These, however, refer to a hallucination:
B1. I see a camel flying.
B2. I can see a camel flying.
B3. I am seeing a camel flying.
My dictionary (I Garzantini) says that "to see things" means "avere le allucinazioni" (translation: "to have hallucinations"). Does any of the boldfaced forms mark the difference between a real and a hallucinatory vision, or is any of them better suited to one situation or the other?
Best Answer
See things has the idiomatic meaning your dictionary describes only when used in that bare form, without qualification.
The idiom may be employed in any tense or construction. In progressive form, you will probably encounter it as a gibe or jeer, as in my first example; in simple past or present form, or in a future construction, it is likely to bear a more descriptive sense: