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Course Introduction

1. Nouns & Articles

2. Ser & Estar

3. Nouns & Adjectives

4. Regular Verbs

5. Ser/Estar (Past Tense)

6. Core Irregular Verbs (Present & Past)

7. Imperfect

8. Adverbs

9. Prepositions

10. Stem-changing Verbs - Part 1

11. Stem-changing Verbs - Part 2

12. Imperfect vs. Preterite

13. Syntax: Objects Overview

14. Past Participles & Present Perfect

15. Irregular and Go-verbs (Present)

16. Verbs with Irregular Yo-forms (Past)

17. Direct Object Pronouns

18. Indirect Object Pronouns, Direct & Indirect Object Pronouns Together

19. Reflexive Verbs

20. Verbs like Gustar

21. Present & Past Progressive

22. Past Perfect & Infinitive Constructions

23. Future Simple

24. Conditional

25. The Imperative

Episode #21

Progressive Tenses

I. Intro

In this lesson, we are going to learn the -ing form of verbs in Spanish. Luckily for us, this form functions very much like it does in English. We use the verb to be (in this case, estar) + the verb + an ending called the present participle, or gerund.

When estar is used in the present tense + a gerund, it’s called the present progressive.
When estar is used in the past or imperfect tense + a gerund, it’s called the past progressive.

II. Form

You may remember that in English, the gerund is made by adding -ing to the base form of a verb. For example:

He + is + speaking.
Is + she + speaking?

I + am + eating.
Are + you + eating?

In Spanish, we take an infinitive verb, drop the infinitive ending, and add -ando to -ar verbs, and -iendo to -er and -ir verbs. And that’s it!

Él está hablando.
¿Está hablando ella?

Yo estoy comiendo.
¿Estás comiendo tú?

Object pronouns can be attached to the end of a gerund, just like they can be attached to the end of the infinitive. This makes no difference to the meaning, and is a matter of personal preference decided at the moment of speaking.

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