La continuación del presente progresivo

The continuation of the present progressive

The present progressive is…

used to express something that is happening right now:

Uds. están escuchando. You all are listening.

(Yo) estoy hablando. I am talking.

What do we need to be able to use the present progressive?

A conjugation of estar + a present participle‘Present participle’ is just a fancy way of saying an –ing

word: hablando – talkingcomiendo – eating escribiendo – writing Do these endings ever change? NO!Can we use these words on their own? NO!

So to say ‘We are talking,’ we need the correct form of ‘estar’ for we, which is…

(Nosotros) estamos (we are) + the present participle of ‘talking’ which is…Hablar is an ‘-ar’ verb, so we need –andohablando Estamos hablando: We are talking

For –er and –ir verbs, we need…

-iendo

Estoy escribiendo. I am writing.

Estás comiendo. You are eating.

Ellos están bebiendo agua. They are drinking water.

Other verbs besides ‘estar’ that we can use in the present progressive

• Seguir + present participle expresses the idea of to keep doing something.

Ejemplo: Emilio sigue hablando. Emilio keeps talking. Note that ‘sigue’ is the conjugation of ‘seguir’ for

él/ella/Ud. because we are talking about Emilio what Emilio keeps doing.

‘Talking’ doesn’t change! Talking is still hablando.

Ejemplo: Maria y Susana siguen cantando.Maria and Susana keep singing. Note that ‘siguen’ is conjugated for ellas, Maria

and Susana, because we are talking about what they keep doing.

And what do they keep doing? Cantando! And the ‘-ing’ word in the sentence, cantando, doesn’t change.

Ir + present participle

• Ir + present participle (-ing word) incidates a gradual or repeated process. It often conveys the English idea of more and more.

Ejemplo: Cada día que pasa Juan va disfrutando más las

vacaciones. Juan is enjoying his vacation more and more

every day.

• Cada día que pasa Juan va disfrutando más las vacaciones.

• Note that ‘va’ is conjugated for ‘él,’ for Juan, but we aren’t talking about him going anywhere in this case. We are just talking about how he is enjoying it more and more every day.

• Disfrutando comes from the –ar verb ‘disfrutar,’ to enjoy.

• Disfrutando = enjoying

andar + present participle

• Andar + present participle conveys the idea of going around doing something or always doing something.

• Tú siempre andas buscando una hoja de papel.• You are always going around looking for a sheet

of paper.

• Claudia y Paco andan diciendo mentiras. • Claudia and Paco are going around telling lies.

• In ‘Tú siempre andas buscando’, andar is conjugated for tú: tú andas (you are go around)

• Buscando means…looking for Buscando doesn’t change because it is the

present participle in the sentence, an –ing wordAndas buscando…you go around looking for