Past Progressive

The Present Progressive



The present progressive tense combines the present indicative of the verb estar (to be) with the present participle of another verb to indicate an action in progress.The present progressive tells what a person "is doing" right now.

• Estoy hablando con mi madre. (I am speaking with my mother (right now).)
• Los niños están jugando en el patio. (The children areplaying in the yard (right now).)
• ¿Estás yendo a la tienda ahora? (Are you going to the store now?)
The present participle never changes according to the tense. The progressive tense can be usedin any time reference simply by changing the tense of estar, creating the present progressive, preterite progressive, the imperfect progressive, the future progressive, etc. This article explains howto form and when to use the present progressive tense.

Present Progressive Forms
The present progressive is a verb phrase consisting of both estar (the "is" part which indicates the tense) and thepresent participle (the "-ing" part which indicates what the action is). To form the present progressive, conjugate estar to the present indicative tense and add the present participle form of theverb that the person is actually doing.

Present Progressive Formula: estar + present participle (verb stem + -ando for -ar verbs/-iendo for -er and -ir verbs)

|Estoy hablando |I am speaking|Estamos hablando |We are speaking |
|Estás hablando |You are speaking |Estáis hablando |You (all) are speaking |
|Estáhablando |You (formal) are speaking |Están hablando |You (all, formal) are speaking |
| |He/she is speaking | |They are speaking|


Present Progressive Uses
Single Current Actions
Simply, what a person is doing right now, and action they are currently participating in.

• Está escribiendo un ensayo...