The present progressive tense in Spanish is used to describe actions that are currently happening or ongoing. It is equivalent to the English “-ing” form, such as “I am eating” or “She is running.” This lesson will cover how to form and use the present progressive tense with regular verbs.
To form the present progressive tense in Spanish, you need two components:
The gerund is formed by adding specific endings to the stem of the verb, depending on whether it is an -ar, -er, or -ir verb. The gerund (below) is similar to the English “ing.”
First, let’s review the present tense conjugation of “estar” which is always used to form the present progressive:
Yo | estoy I am | Nosotros | estamos we are |
Tú (Juana, Juan) | estás you are | Vosotros (informal Spain) | estáis you all are |
Él/Ella/Ud. (Sra./Dr. García) | está he/she/you are | Ellos/Ellas/Uds. | están they/you all are |
Combine the appropriate form of “estar” with the gerund of the main verb to form the present progressive.
Form of Estar + gerund (verb with equivalent of ing)
Yo | estoy hablando I am speaking (right now) | Nosotros | estamos hablando we are speaking (right now) |
Tú (Juana, Juan) | estás hablando you are speaking (right now) | Vosotros (informal Spain) | estáis hablando you all are speaking (right now) |
Él/Ella/Ud. (Sra./Dr. García) | está hablando he/she/you are speaking (right now) | Ellos/Ellas/Uds. | están hablando they/you all are speaking (right now) |
Yo | estoy comiendo I am eating (right now) | Nosotros | estamos comiendo we are eating (right now) |
Tú (Juana, Juan) | estás comiendo you are eating (right now) | Vosotros (informal Spain) | estáis comiendo you all are eating (right now) |
Él/Ella/Ud. (Sra./Dr. García) | está comiendo he/she/you are eating (right now) | Ellos/Ellas/Uds. | están comiendo they/you all are eating (right now) |
Yo | estoy viviendo I am living (right now) | Nosotros | estamos viviendo we are living (right now) |
Tú (Juana, Juan) | estás viviendo you are living (right now) | Vosotros (informal Spain) | estáis viviendo you all are living (right now) |
Él/Ella/Ud. (Sra./Dr. García) | está viviendo he/she/you are living (right now) | Ellos/Ellas/Uds. | están viviendo span style="color:red;">they/you all are livspan style="color:red;">ing (right now) |
It’s important to distinguish between the present tense and the present progressive tense:
Present Tense: Describes actions that are happening generally, habitual actions, or general truths. In English, it can also end with “-ing,” but it does not necessarily indicate that the action is happening at this very moment.
Present Progressive: Indicates that the action is happening right now. It always implies immediacy.
Throughout this course, you will be able to distinguish the present tense from the present progressive tense, which will always contain a “right now” in the English equivalent.