Present progressive of ser or estar

Question

In English, if someone was treating me badly, I might say "he is being mean to me," or "he is being an as*****."

I tried translating it to Spanish in multiple ways;

Él está siendo un cabrón.

Él está actuando como un cabrón.

Neither of these sound right to me, and no matter how hard I try, I can't seem to come up with something much better without saying something with too different a meaning.

Similar sentences might be: "He was being really nice to me," or "You're not being nice to me."

So, how should this kind of thing be said in Spanish? Is there a better way or are those translations okay?

Answer 1

I agree none of them sound too natural in Spanish. I would use estarse comportando como:

Te estás comportando como un imbécil/gilipollas/cabrón.

Although that would translate as "you're being an asshole", so it this dones't convey the part of "to me". For example:

You're being such a kid right now = Te estás comportando como un crío.

The translation of "mean" depends on the region. In Spain we would say "borde", but I don't think non-Spaniards would understand that. Maybe "maleducado" or "descortés" are more neutral, but they mean something closer to "impolite".

On the other hand "estarse comportando como" only works with nouns ("Te estás comportando como un maleducado" sounds a little bit stilted). With adjectives, I'd just go with estás siendo [adjetivo] con:

You're being mean to the guests = Estás siendo maleducado con los huéspedes

Answer 2

He is being mean to me:

El esta siendo grosero conmigo

El esta siendo malo conmigo

El me esta tratando mal (a mi)

El me esta maltratando.

He is being an ass

El es un grosero

El es un hijo de puta (This is a very strong/rude insult. This will get you into deep sh**)

El es un imbécil

Es un completo idiota

Some of these do not translate exactly the words but carry the same "angry" meaning.

BTW...The title of this question......Really?