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Home / Beginner / 8. Verbs

8.16 THE PROGRESSIVE TENSES

Progressive form of the verb is used to express actions like ‘eating’, ‘coming’, ‘reading’, etc. In Spanish when you say ‘Él habla’, the translation in English could be ‘He speaks’ or ‘He is speaking’ depending on the context.

In Spanish if you need to specify that the action is in the process of taking place you would use the progressive form of ‘hablar’ which is ‘hablando’ and the indicative form of the verb ‘estar’. That probably sounds confusing so let’s take a look at the progressive forms of a few common verbs and how to use them to express activities that are/were continuous.

Although the progressive form is not used as often as it is in English, it is an important part of conversational Spanish and not all that difficult.


The progressive tenses and 'ar' verbs

The progressive forms of some common ‘ar’ verbs are as follows:

Verb

Progressive Form

Hablar
To speak

hablando

Dar
To give

dando

Sacar
To take out

sacando

Pagar
To pay

pagando

Tomar
To take, to drink

tomando

Trabajar
To work

trabajando

Nadar
To swim

nadando

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The progressive tenses - 'er' and 'ir' verbs

The progressive forms of some common ‘er’ and ‘ir’ verbs are as follows:

Verb

Progressive Form

Salir
To go out

saliendo

Comer
To eat

comiendo

Vivir
To live

viviendo

Escribir
To write

escribiendo

Decir
To say

diciendo

Hacer
To do

haciendo

Pedir
To ask

pidiendo

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Some verbs use a ‘y’ to form their progressive forms, as follows:

Verb

Progressive Form

Leer
To read

leyendo

Distribuir
To distribute

distribuyendo

Oir
To listen

oyendo

Construir
To construct

construyendo

Ir
To go

yendo

Caer
To fall

cayendo

Traer
To bring

trayendo

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the present progressive

Now let’s look at some examples. To express the present progressive, use the conjugation of ‘estar’ in the present tense:

Estoy trabajando en mi proyecto en este momento  – I am working on my project at the moment
No pueden contestar el teléfono. Están comiendo – Then cannot answer the phone. They are eating.
Nos está esperando en la esquina – He/She is waiting for us at the corner.
¿Estás marcando el número? – Are you dialing the number?
Estamos preparando el almuerzo – We are preparing lunch

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The present progressive can also be used like this:

Leyendo el libro, me dormí – While reading the book, I fell asleep (dormir – to sleep, dormirse – to fall asleep)

Yendo a la escuela, paré a comprar una galleta – Going to school, I stopped to buy a cookie

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the past progressive

In the past tense, it is common to use ‘estar’ in the imperfect tense:

Me estaba pidiendo un favor – He/she was asking me for a favor
Los perros estaban ladrando – The dogs were barking
Estábamos comprando gaseosa cuando vimos el accidente – We were buying soda when we saw the accident.
Me estaba afeitando cuando noté la sangre – I was shaving when I noticed the blood

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