Spanish Verbs – Present Progressive El Presente Progresivo

spanish verbs – present progressive el presente progresivo * the present progressive is a compound tense used to talk about

Spanish Verbs – Present Progressive
El presente progresivo
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The present progressive is a compound tense used to talk about
ongoing action in the present that uses an auxiliary verb in the
present tense combined with the present participle of a second
verb.
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The auxiliary verb is the first verb in the tense that
precedes (goes before) the participle. The most common
auxiliary verb is estar. Some other auxiliary verbs used in
the past progressive are: andar, seguir, ir and venir.
estar + participio presente (-ando o –iendo)
Examples:
Estamos limpiando la casa. Estoy comiendo)
We are cleaning the house. I am eating.
o To illustrate the present progressive, think of the equivalent in
English:
to be + the –ing form of a verb
Examples:
I am eating. We are studying.
verb to be + -ing form verb to be + -ing form
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It is important to note that the progressive tenses are used much
more frequently in English than in Spanish. In Spanish, this verb
tense is usually used to stress or exaggerate the ongoing action
in the present.
 Steps to form the present progressive tense:
1. Conjugate the auxiliary verb estar into the present tense.
estar – to be
yo estoy nosotros estamos
tú estás vosotros estáis
él/ella/usted está ellos/ella/ustedes están
2. Form the present participle:
a. Identify the infinitive form of the second verb that will form the
present participle.
b. Drop the –AR, -ER, or –IR ending.
c. Add the appropriate participle ending that corresponds to the
infinitive ending of the verb (-ando or –iendo).
-AR verbs
-ER / -IR verbs
-ando
-iendo
Examples: cantar à cantando saltar  saltando
comer à comiendo escribir  escribiendo
correr à corriendo hablar  hablando
3. Combine the auxiliary verb in the present tense with the present
participle.
Verbo
Participio
Presente progresivo
saltar – to jump
saltando
estoy saltando – I am jumping estamos saltando – We are jumping
estás saltando – You are jumping estáis saltando – You (pl). are
jumping
está saltando – He/she is jumping están saltando – They are jumping
beber – to drink
bebiendo
estoy bebiendo – I am drinking estamos bebiendo – We are drinking
estás bebiendo – You are drinking estáis bebiendo – You (pl.) are
drinking
está bebiendo – He/she is drinking están bebiendo – They are drinking
escribir – to write
escribiendo
estoy escribiendo – I am writing estamos escribiendo – We are writing
estás escribiendo – You are writing estáis escribiendo – You (pl.) are
writing
está escribiendo – He/she is writing están escribiendo – They are
writing
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It is important to note that all -AR and -ER verbs are regular
when forming the present participle. Only some –IR stem changing
verbs have irregular participles.
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Steps to form the present participle of -IR stem changing verbs:
1.
The vowel e in the stem changes to i, e > i
The vowel o in the stem changes to u, o > u
2.
Add -iendo to the stem of the verb.
Examples: pedir à pidiendo
servir à sirviendo
seguir à siguiendo
decir  diciendo
morir à muriendo
dormir à durmiendo
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For pronunciation reasons, some verbs experience a spelling change
involving the letter y.
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This change occurs because any time there is an unaccented
letter i between two vowels, it changes to a y.
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If the regular steps to forming the past participle were
followed for the verb influir, the participle would look like
this: influiendo. However, because there is an unaccented i
between two vowels (u and e) the i changes to a y, and the
correct participle is à influyendo.
Other examples of verbs like this: caer à cayendo
oír à oyendo
leer à leyendo
Spanish BCCC Tutoring Center Rev. 7/2015