¡¡LOS TIEMPOS PROGRESIVOS!! THE PROGRESSIVE TENSES!!

¿¿¡Qué!?? The progressive tenses describe actions that are in

progress.

the present participle How form this? The progressive tenses consist of two words: estar + el gerundio to be the present participle

The present whataciple?!?!?!?!?! That’s right grammar fans, the present participle, which in English is when you have the verb ending in: -ing* ***However, the –ing form of the verb can also serve as the subject of a sentence instead of in a verbal function, in which case it grammatically ceases to be a present participle and suddenly turns into a “gerund.” An example would be in the following sentence: “Living is good, at least it beats the alternative,” in which “living” is the gerund. The same verb form would be a present participle in a sentence like this one: “I am living right now.” To add confusion to uncertainty, in Spanish the present participle is called “el gerundio.”

Let’s form some participles, people!!! -ar → -ando -er / -ir → -iendo

How to not confuse the present participle in Spanish with the past participle in Spanish The past participle endings in Spanish are –ado and –ido, while the present participle endings are –ando and -iendo. Think about this: -ing has an “n” in it and –ando has an “n” in it. You’re welcome.

YOU CAN USE PRETTY MUCH EVERY FORM OF ESTAR WITH THE PRESENT PARTICIPLE TO FORM A PROGRESSIVE TENSE. DON’T BELIEVE ME? WELL TAKE A GANDER AT THE FOLLOWING:

The present progressive estar in the present + the present participle Ejemplo: I am singing! ¡Estoy cantando!

the present participle The past progressive estar in the imperfect + the present participle Ejemplo: I was singing! ¡Yo estaba cantando!

The present progressive subjunctive estar in the present subjunctive + the present participle Ejemplo: It’s good that I am singing! ¡Es bueno que yo esté cantando!

The past progressive subjunctive estar in the past subjunctive + the present participle Ejemplo: It was good that I was singing! ¡Fue bueno que yo estuviera cantando!

The future progressive* estar in the future + the present participle Ejemplo: I will be singing! ¡Estaré cantando! *c’mon, just say “Voy a cantar.”

The conditional progressive* estar in the conditional + the present participle Ejemplo: I would be singing, if only you’d let me! ¡Estaría cantando, si sólo me permitieras! *Still kind of awkward, just say: “Cantaría si sólo me permitieras!”

The past progressive (again)* estar in the preterit + the present participle Ejemplo: I was singing until I definitely stopped! ¡Yo estuve cantando hasta que paré definitivamente! *The action must be very preterity and you want to indicate that it is certainly no longer in progress; probably less common than using estar in the imperfect

You didn’t think all those present participles would be regular did you?? ¡Jajajajajajajajajajajajajajajajaj!

Irregs All –er and –ir verbs that have a vowel in front of the ending get a y (just like in the preterit), so they end in –yendo instead of –iendo: caer: cayendo leer: leyendo incluir: incluyendo

Irregs cont’d -ir stem-changing verbs in the preterit get the same stem-change here: morir: muriendo sentir: sintiendo

Irregs cont’d -ullir and –ñir verbs get –endo instead of –iendo: zambullir: zambullendo gruñir: gruñendo

Two random ones poder: ir: pudiendo ir: yendo* *not often used; to say I am going you say: “voy”.

Now, where we puttin’ pronouns? In front of conjugated verbs: Lo estoy comiendo. I’m eating it. Attached to the present participle*: Estoy comiéndolo. *When you attach 1 or more pronouns to the present participle you have to put an accent on whatever letter is in front of the –ndo, which will be either an e or an a (ignore any of this business about “counting back 3 syllables” or whatever; if you add more than 1 pronoun you mess up the number of syllables to even count back from, am I right? Well, am I??)

Other verbs go with the present participle too!! seguir / continuar: ¡Sigo cantando! I keep on singing! andar: Ella anda cantando por todas partes. She goes around singing all over the place. ir: Voy mejorando mi español. I am gradually improving my Spanish.

¡Practicar! En español: I’m sleeping, Juan. Maria continues saying the same things. Juan was reading when the phone rang. Maria is going to the store.

¡Respuestas! Estoy durmiendo, Juan. María sigue diciendo las mismas cosas. Juan estaba leyendo cuando sonó el teléfono. María va a la tienda.