Progressive

The progressive consist of two parts: a helping verb and the present participle of a main verb, which ends in –ing in English: is talking ↓ ↓ helping verb present participle/main verb

To form a present participle in Spanish drop off the –ar and add –ando hablar = habl- + -ando → hablando tomar = tom- + -ando → tomando 2. drop off the –er or –ir and add –iendo comer = com- + -iendo → comiendo escribir = escrib- + iendo → escribiendo

Remember to use the INFINITIVE!!!! If I tell you to change “hago” to the progressive, the answer is “estoy haciendo.” You can’t drop the “-o” off “hago” and put on the ending; you have to go back to “hacer” and drop the “-er” off.

Stem-Changing Verbs If you remember, as was mentioned in the last slide, to go back to the infinitive, -ar and –er verbs won’t be a problem for you: vuelve  está volviendo (inf.: volver) piensa  está pensando (inf.: pensar) However, -ir stem-changing verbs don’t work like that. Instead, the last e in the infinitive becomes an i: pedir  pidiendo pide  está pidiendo sentir  sintiendosiente  está sintiendo And the last o in an –ir stem-changing verb becomes a u: dormir  durmiendoduerme  está durmiendo

There’s one type of verb that undergoes a spelling change. A spelling rule of Spanish is that an “i” that gets stuck between two other vowels becomes a “y” (unless it has an accent mark over it): leer = le- + -iendo → *leiendo* → leyendo creer = cre- + -iendo → *creiendo* → creyendo

In Spanish, the helping verb is “estar”: está hablando ↓ ↓ (he) istalking

WARNING!!!!!! If you’re told to change a verb to the progressive, it absolutely MUST have a form of “estar” with it: hablas → estás hablando comemos → estamos comiendo escriben → están escribiendo If you fail to include “estar” on the test, you’ll lose ½ point for every single one! That means about 5 points total! FAIR WARNING!!!!!!!!!

The progressive emphasizes that the action is going on at this moment in time. “Hablo” can mean “I speak” or “I am speaking,” but “estoy hablando” means clearly that I am speaking right now.

Following are some exercises. Describe what each person is doing at the moment. Write the answer on your own paper.

María JuanaCarlos ¿Qué está haciendo María? María está bailando. ¿Qué está haciendo Esteban? Esteban está leyendo. ¿Qué está haciendo Julio? Julio está escribiendo. ¿Qué está haciendo Carlos? Carlos está enseñando. Esteban Julio

Antonio Pedro Tomás Teresa y Diego ¿Qué está haciendo Antonio? Antonio está bebiendo. ¿Qué está haciendo Pedro? Pedro está comiendo. ¿Qué está haciendo Tomás? Tomás está hablando. ¿Qué están haciendo Teresa y Diego? Teresa y Diego están mirando la televisión.

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