The present continuous/ El presente continuo

Hola estudiantes de español,

En este post vamos a ver el presente continuo en español. In English the “present continuous” is a tense which is used to talk about something happening right now. For example:  I am writing you a letter, I am listening music, He is drinking water,We are working at the office.

As in English , in order to form the present continuous we need the verb To Be and the gerund. But……….which one of the 2 Spanish verbs “to be”  do we need to form the present continuous?, SER OR ESTAR……. We need to use the verb ESTAR in the present form plus the gerund.

You can see here the verb ESTAR in the present form:

Yo estoy

Tú estás

Él/ella está

Nosotros/as estamos

Vosotros/as estáis

Ellos/as están

The gerund in Spanish is formed as follows :

Verbs ending in –AR , we get rid of the ending AR and we add –ANDO. For example:

Trabajar- trabajando

Hablar- hablando

Cocinar-cocinando

Verbs ending in –ER and –IR,  we get rid of the infinitive ending –ER or –IR, and we add –IENDO. Here you have some examples:

Comer- comiendo

Beber- viviendo

Vivir- viviendo

Salir- saliendo

Escribir-escribiendo

Example, present continuous of the verb comer:

Yo estoy comiendo

Tú estás comiendo

Él /ella está comiendo

Nosotros/as estamos comiendo

Vosotros/as estáis comiendo

Ellos/as estáis comiendo.

Normally we use the present continuous to talk about something that is happening right now. On the other hand  we use the present simple to talk about something which is current but It is not happening at this very moment.

I hope this helps :). Remember that all your questions and comments are welcome. In case you were interested in keeping yourself updated about new free grammar and activities , like us on Facebook!.

 Saludos, 

Javier 

Profesor de español 

Yo Spanish school Liverpool