44 Present and Past Continuous Tenses

Formation of the progressive tenses

• The Spanish progressive is formed with estar plus the gerund (gerundio), which is formed by adding –ando to the stem of –ar verbs and –iendo to the stem of –er and –ir verbs. The gerund never varies, it always ends in –o.

• The stem vowel in the gerund of –ir stem-changing verbs also shows a change, the e of the stem changes to i, the o to u:.

• An unaccented i between two vowels becomes y: leyendo, oyendo.
• The present progressive is formed of course with the present tense of estar plus the gerund: Estoy comiendo. Estás trabajando etc.
• The past progressive is formed of course with the imperfect tense of estar plus the gerund: Estaba comiendo. Estabas trabajando etc.
• Object pronouns may be attached to a gerund or precede the conjugated form of estar. Note the use of a written accent mark when pronouns are attached to the present participle.

Pablo le está escribiendo./Pablo está escribiéndole.

¿Nos están buscando?/¿Están buscándonos?

Uses of the progressive:

• to indicate an action in progress at the moment of speaking or in a narrative. No puede hablar con usted porque está durmiendo.

María estaba lavando (lavaba) los platos cuando el teléfono sonó.

• to describe an action that is different from what is normal or customary, whether or not it is in progress at the moment of speaking.

Este semestre estoy tomando cinco cursos. (Normalmente tomo cuatro.)

Estoy pasando las vacaciones en casa. (normalmente voy de vacaciones.)

• to add emotional impact to the narration of an ongoing action.

¡Por fin estamos terminando este libro!

In general, the progressive forms are used much less frequently in Spanish than in English. The progressive is not used in Spanish

• to indicate a future or anticipated action; simple forms are used for this purpose.

Nos casamos en junio.

• With the verbs ser, ir, venir, poder and tener, use the simple forms with these verbs. Tenemos muchos problemas últimamente.We are having lots of problems lately. Vienen a la fiesta.They are coming to the party.