Imperfect Progressive When we talk about something that was happening at a specific time in the past, often when something else happened we use a special form called the imperfect progressive For example, in the picture on the left, the man was playing soccer. He was running and kicking the ball.

The forms The man was playing soccer. He was running and kicking the ball. Notice that we need two verbs to express this idea: A form of BE: was were An -ing form of another verb: playing running kicking

… and in Spanish?? We do the same thing! A form of the verb ESTAR: estaba estabas estaba estábamos estaban And a verb form that ends in –ndo.

Por ejemplo… El hombre estaba jugando al fútbol. Estaba corriendo y dando una patada a la pelota cuando nosotros llegamos al partido.

-NDO forms Jugar > jugando Dar > dando Correr > corriendo Can you figure out how the different endings?

-NDO forms Exactly! For –ar verbs, drop – ar and add –ando. For –er & -ir verbs, add –iendo.

Let’s practice! What are the –ndo forms of these verbs? cantar volver escribir aprender hacer pensar ver

The envelope, please! cantar: cantando volver: volviendo escribir: escribiendo aprender: aprendiendo hacer: haciendo pensar: pensando ver: viendo

There’s got to be a catch! Yes, there are some irregulars. What is the –ndo form of ir?

That’s tricky! ir > yendo Drop the –ir and what do you have? Add –iendo for an -ir verb. Iendo becomes yendo.

Here are a couple more. leer > leyendo oir > oyendo traer > trayendo The –i- changes to –y- between two vowels.

Wait! Stem-changing –IR verbs. If a verb is –ir and stem- changing, then the stem changes in the –ndo form. venir (e > ie) viniendo decir (e > i) diciendo dormir (o > ue) durmiendo

Let’s practice! Put the verbs into the imperfect progressive form. Teodoro _____ (tomar) un té caliente y ______ (comer) unas galletas dulces cuando yo llegué.

Qué estaba haciendo? ¿Qué estaba haciendo? Teodoro estaba tomando un té caliente y estaba comiendo unas galletas dulces cuando yo llegué. You can leave out the second “estaba.”

Un poco más In addition to the verb estar, several other verbs can be used to form the progressive tenses. Seguir Andar Continuar Venir

Ellos siguen estudiando Yo andaba por la calle pensando. El profesor continuaba enseñando. Venían corriendo They keep on studying I was walking down the street thinking. The teacher kept on (continued) teaching. They came running.