Imperfect Progressive and Preterite

Imperfect Progressive and Preterite

• Do you remember the present

progressive?

• It’s used when a person wants

to say that an action is

happening “right now.”

Imperfect Progressive and Preterite

• It uses the present tense of

estar + the present participle.

• No puedo ir al cine. Estoy

estudiando para el examen.

Imperfect Progressive and Preterite

• To describe something that was

taking place over a period of time in

the past, use the imperfect

progressive, which uses the

imperfect tense of estar + the

present participle.

Imperfect Progressive and Preterite

• Estaba esquiando cuando me

caí y me torcí la rodilla.

• I was skiing when I fell and

sprained my knee.

Imperfect Progressive and Preterite

• The present and imperfect

progressive tenses use the same

irregular present participles.

Imperfect Progressive and Preterite

• Remember, to form the present

participle of -ir stem-changing

verbs, e changes to i and o

changes to u:

E > I

decir?

diciendo

pedir?

pidiendo

repetir?

repitiendo

seguir?

siguiendo

servir?

sirviendo

vestir?

vistiendo

O > U

dormir?

durmiendo

I > Y• For the following -er verbs, the I of

-iendo changes to y:

• creer?

• creyendo

• leer?

• leyendo

• traer?

• trayendo

Imperfect Progressive and Preterite

• When you use pronouns with the

imperfect progressive, you can put

them before estar or attach them to

the participle.

Imperfect Progressive and Preterite

• ¿Qué estaba haciendo cuando te

cortaste?

• Estaba afeitándome.

• Or

• Me estaba afeitando.

Imperfect Progressive and Preterite

• Note that the imperfect progressive

describes what was taking place

while the preterite tells a specific

occurance in the past or interrupts

the action.

Imperfect Progressive and Preterite

• Ella estaba corriendo cuando se

lastimó el tobillo.