Topic:
The progressive tenses are the easiest of all in Spanish. Learn them here.
The easiest tenses in Spanish
Now that you have learned the conjugation of the verb estar, there are two more tenses that you can use with very little extra effort.
These are the progressive tenses. While the name may not be familiar, you already know this concept. When we talk about an ongoing activity in English, we use the progressive tense. For example, I am eating lunch.
We use the verb to be followed by the "ing" form of a verb, also called the present participle.
In this lesson we will see that the progressive tense works the same in Spanish as in English.
How to form a present participle in Spanish
Present participles in Spanish use only two endings, which depend on the verb type.
| Verb Type | Ending | Example Verb | Present Participle | Meaning |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| -ar Verb | -ando | hablar
| hablando
| speaking |
| -er Verb | -iendo | aprender
| aprendiendo
| learning |
| -ir Verb | -iendo | escribir
| escribiendo
| writing |
To form the present participle, we take the verb root and add either -ando (-ar verbs), or -iendo (-er and -ir verbs).
Forming the progressive present tense
To form the progressive present tense we use the appropriate form of estar followed by the present participle, just the way we do in English.
To say They are learning Spanish, we would say Están aprendiendo español.
To say I am eating pizza, the Spanish would be Estoy comiendo pizza.
To be clear, here is a full conjugation:
Progressive Present conjugation of trabajar, to work
Use it only for actions happening right now
In English, we use the progressive tense to talk about things that are happening now, but we also tend to use it more broadly.
If you were asked What are you doing these days?, you might reply I am working at a hospital.
A Spanish speaker would not use the progressive tense to express that idea. They would instead use the normal present tense and say Trabajo en un hospital.
You should use the progressive present tense in Spanish only to talk about what is occurring right now.
The Progressive Past
Using the progressive in the past tense is just as easy. Use the imperfect form of estar plus the present participle.
To say He was washing the dishes, you would say Estaba lavando los platos.
Of course, that same sentence could mean I was washing the dishes as well.
Let's look at the past progressive forms for trabajar. I was working, You were working, etc...
Progressive Past conjugation of trabajar
Both present tense and past tense progressive verbs will appear in the exercises. Remember, you can look at the color of the input box to help recognize which tense is requested.
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On to the Exercises and the Quiz
To practice the verb forms in this lesson, click Practice Exercises below.
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