Present Progressive
The Present Progressive is the equivalent to the English "Be doing" something. The Present
Progressive has two components: A conjugation of Estar and a present participle.
This may help you to remember this is a two-part verb tense:
The first part, Present, refers to the present tense conjugation of the verb Estar,
Yo Tú Él, ella, usted Nosotros Ellos, ellas,
ustedes
estoy estás está estamos están
The second part, Progressive, refers to the Participle ("-ing" form of a verb; for
example "running", "talking", "playing", etc). Let's look at how to form the participle in
Spanish:
We form the participle in Spanish by dropping the -ar, -er, or -ir from the infinitive of a verb
and adding one of two endings, -ando or -iendo.
to all -Ar verbs, add -ando
1) Hablar [to talk]
2) Habl-ar = habl-
3) Habl+ando = hablando [talking]
to -Er and -Ir verbs, add -iendo
1) Comer [to eat]
2) Com-er = com-
3) Com+iendo = comiendo [eating]
1) Escribir [to write]
2) Escrib-ir = escrib-
3) Escrib+iendo = escribiendo (writing)
