SP 107 – Mr. Ocaña                                           NOMBRE:

WORKSHEET – PRESENT PROGRESSIVE       FECHA:

I. THE PRESENT PROGRESSIVE

• In English, the present progressive is formed with the verb TO BE plus the –ING form of another verb. Ex.: I am watching TV – We are studying. (The –ING form of a verb is called in English a gerund; in Spanish, gerundio).

• In Spanish, the present progressive is formed with the verb ESTAR plus the –NDO form of another verb. Ex.: I am watching TV – Estoy mirando la tele; we are studying – estamos estudiando.

II. FORMING THE GERUND IN SPANISH: -NDO VERB FORMS

1. –AR Verbs: Drop the –ar ending and add –ANDO to the stem of the verb.

Ex.: bailar à bailando; cantar à cantando

2. –ER/-IR Verbs: Drop the –er/-ir ending and add –IENDO to the stem of the verb.

Ex.: comer à comiendo; escribir à escribiendo

3. EXCEPCIONES:

a.      When the stem of an –er/-ir verb ends in a vowel, -IENDO changes to –YENDO.

Ex. Leer à leyendo; construir à construyendo

b.      The –NDO forms of IR and VENIR are irregular: ir à yendo; venir à viniendo.

à Practice: Write the gerund (= equivalent of the –ING forms) of the following verbs (MODELO: cantar à cantando):

III. USES

• From a Spanish speaker’s point of view, English overuses the present progressive. An –ING expression in English does not automatically signal a progressive tense in Spanish. Unlike English, Spanish does not use the present progressive to express habitual, ongoing actions or future actions.

Ex. They are living in Miami à Viven en Miami.

                        I am going to invite Carlos à Voy a invitar a Carlos

                        They are having a party today à Tienen una fiesta hoy

• In Spanish, the present progressive is used only to describe an action that is taking place right at the moment. Ex.: I am reading à estoy leyendo.

• The verbs come and go are not ordinarily used in the progressive in Spanish. Ex.: We are going to class à Vamos a clase.

Pablo is coming at 5:00 à Pablo viene a las cinco.