The present progressive

The present progressive is a tense that is used to describe ‘what you ARE DOING’. It is often referred to as an action in progress.

Formation

To form the present progressive you need the following:

                                        Estar + present participle (gerund)

‘Estar’ will agree with the person that is doing the action.

For example:

                     Yo estoy tomando un examen. – I am taking a test.

                      Nosotros estamos comiendo la cena. – We are eating dinner.

Forming the present participle

a. Regular Verbs

To form the present participle, start with the infinitive, remove the -AR, -ER, or -IR, and add the respective endings below.

-AR

ex. Hablar    habl- + ANDO  –> hablando

-ER

ex. Beber  beb- + IENDO –>  bebiendo

-IR

ex. Asistir   asis- + IENDO  –> asistiendo

b. Irregular Verbs

1. Stem-changing –IR verbs

Verbs that are stem-changing in the present tense and end in -IR can undergo two possible changes when forming the present participle. They will change from:

E –> I

 or

O –>U

For example:

Decir –> diciendo

Dormir –> durmiendo

Mentir -> mintiendo

Morir –> muriendo

Pedir –> pidiendo

Sentir –> sintiendo

2. -ER and -IR verbs that have a stem that ends in a vowel, utilize a ‘Y’ when forming the present participle instead of an ‘I’.

For example:

Construir  

               constru- +YENDO –> construyendo

Leer  

               le- +YENDO –> leyendo

Oír  

               o- +YENDO –> oyendo

Traer  

              tra- + YENDO –> trayendo