To describe an action in Spanish that is happening at this very moment, the present progressive tense is used. This tense is formed as follows:

Form of the verb Estarestoy,estás,está,estamos

estaís,están

Present Participle-ar verbs add ando

-er/-ir verbs add iendo

Examples

• Yo estoy escuchando al Sr. Madan ahora.I am listening to Mr. Madan now.

• ¿Qué estás haciendo?What are you doing?

• hablarhablando

• comercomiendo

• vivir viviendo

The present participle is formed by dropping the last two letters from the verb infinitive and adding “ando” for -ar verbs and “iendo” for -er/-ir verbs:

• tomartomando• beberbebiendo• escribir

escribiendo

• leerleyendo

• creercreyendo

• traertrayendo

• construirconstruyendo

There are some irregular forms that use “yendo” in forming their present participles.

• Yo estoy practicando.• Manuel está practicando.

Only the form of estar changes with different subjects.

The verbs venir (to come) and ir (to go) are not typically used in this tense.

• Juan mira la téle.• Juan está mirando la téle.

Juan is watching t.v.

This tense corresponds to the English “ing” form. The same meaning can also be expressed by using the Present Tense.