Present Progressive AR Spanish Verbs

Now we’ll learn what I like to call “doing” verbs. If you’re taking Spanish in school, the true name for this verb tense is the “progressive tense”. With doing verbs, you can say phrases like “I am eating” and “I am walking” – notice the endings on both verbs.

To form “doing verbs”, you have to put an “ing” ending on the verbs. For “ar” verbs, the ending is “a-n-d-o” or “ando”. And, for “er” and “ir” verbs, the “ing” ending is “i-e-n-d-o” or “iendo”. For example, the word “to talk” is “hablar” and the word “talking” is “hablando”. Let’s look at a few more. The word “to eat” is “comer” but the word “eating” is “comiendo”; And finally, one last example, the word “to live” is “vivir” but the word “living” is “viviendo”.

Now we’ll take it one step farther so you can learn how to say phrases like “I am living” and “She is eating”. All you have to do is conjugate a form of the verb “estar”, then add the “ing” ending on the verbs, like we talked about just a minute ago.

First, let’s review the forms of estar:

Take a look at a few examples of doing verbs:

The phrase “I am eating” would be “Estoy comiendo”.
“She is studying” would be “Está estudiando”
“They are dancing” would be “Están bailando”
“We are preparing” would be “Estamos preparando”
“I am writing” would be “Estoy escribiendo”
And finally, “Juan, you are eating lunch” would be “(Juan) Estás almorzando”.

Now a key to the “progressive tense” or “doing verbs” is that the person has to be doing the action at the very moment, it’s being said. For example, if I say “I am eating” or “Estoy comiendo”, I would have to actually be eating right when I say it. In other words, if I say, “He is eating more lately”, I wouldn’t automatically use a “doing verb” or the “progressive tense”, because he isn’t necessarily eating, right now. If you remember back to present tense, when you say “él come”, it can mean “He eats”, “He does eat” or “He is eating”. In many cases, the present tense phrase “él come” and the doing-verb phrase “él está comiendo” are interchangeable. However, just remember, you can only say “él está comiendo” if he is doing it “right now”.

In the next lesson, we’ll practice with the “doing verbs”, or “progressive tense”. This lesson will focus on “ar” ending verbs. Remember, first you conjugate a form of “estar”, then put “ando” after the verb.

Spanish Practice Session

To begin our practice session, first have someone say the phrases in English, and you say them out loud in Spanish.

Now, if you’re ready to move on, go ahead and try the next lesson. Otherwise, feel free to repeat this section until you feel comfortable with it.