Exploring Spanish Present Progressive

Today's goal:

Learn how to form the present progressive tense of the verbs you know. Then, practice this tense to talk about what people are doing right now.

English Grammar Connection:

In both English and Spanish, the present progressive tense is used to say that an action is in progress at this moment.

​Roberto is skating in the park

​Roberto está patinando en el parque

Present progressive

To form the present progressive in Spanish, use the present tense of estar + a present participle.

Here's how: To form the present participle of a verb, drop the infinitve's ending and add -ando (for -ar verbs) and -iendo (for -er and -ir verbs)

Let's see it in action!

caminar→camin-←ando
caminando

​Está caminando en la calle

​She is walking in the street

Let's see it in action!

poner→pon-←iendo
poniendo

​Están poniendo la comida en la mesa

​They are putting the food on the table

Let's see it in action!

abrir→abr-←iendo
abriendo

​Está abriendo la puerta

​He is opening the door

When the stem of an -er or -ir verb ends in a vowel, change the -iendo to -yendo

leer→leyendo
traer→trayendo

The e→i stem-changing will continue to have the vowel change in the stem.

pedir→pidiendo
servir→sirviendo
vestir→vistiendo

Some other verbs will also experience stem changes

decir→diciendo
venir→viniendo
dormir→durmiendo

Place pronouns before the conjugated form of estar or attach them to the end of the present participle. Add an accent when you attach a pronoun

Me estoy vistiendo or Estoy vistiéndome