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• Use the present continuous tense to say that you are doing something now which is ongoing, eg I am watching, he is reading.

• In English, the present participle ends in ‘ing’, eg saying, listening, playing.

• Use the verb estar (to be) and the present participle to form the present continuous tense in Spanish.

• In Spanish, you form the present participle by changing the verb’s ending. It is different for regular and irregular verbs.

• Use llegar and seguir to describe ongoing actions in the present tense.

Use the present continuous tense to say what you are doing at the moment.

In English, the present continuous is formed using the correct part of the verb to be and the form of the verb ending in -ing - the gerund.

For example:

I am reading my books.

My friends are waiting for the bus.

To form the present continuous, use the correct form of the verb estar in the present tense followed by the present participle ending in ando, iendo, iendo . The present particple is sometimes called the gerund.

The table shows the conjugation of the verb estar:

The present participle is the form of the verb that ends in ‘-ing’ in English. To form the present participle in Spanish, remove the ar, er or ir from the infinitive of the verb and add the ending ando or iendo.

For example:

Estoy escuchando música. - I am listening to music.

Mi hermano �����á viendo la tele. - My brother is watching TV.

Estamos escribiendo una carta. - We are writing a letter.

A small number of verbs (including some stem-changing verbs) have irregular present participles.

For example:

leer (to read) → leyendo (reading)

��í�� (to hear) → oyendo (hearing)

dormir (to sleep) → durmiendo (sleeping)

pedir (to ask for) → pidiendo (asking for)

Practise what you've learned about ongoing actions in the present tense in Spanish with this quiz.

Use the verb llevar followed by a time period and a present participle to describe an ongoing action.

For example:

Llevo dos semanas estudiando para mi examen. - I have been studying for my exam for two weeks.

Use the verb seguir followed by the present participle to describe ongoing actions in the present tense:

For example:

Sigue aprendiendo español. - She’s still learning Spanish.

Now you have learned about ongoing actions in the present tense in Spanish why not explore regular verbs in the preterite tense in Spanish?