UNIT FIFTEEN
Present continuous tense
The present tense in Spanish can be used for the simple present tense ‘does’ or the
continuous form ‘is doing’, for example:
compra he buys/he is buying
escribo I write/I am writing
If, however, you want to emphasize the ongoing nature of the verb, i.e. that the action is a
continuous one which is in progress at the time referred to, you can use the verb estar
with the gerund to say literally ‘is doing’.
The gerund is roughly equivalent to the form of the verb ending in ‘-ing’ in English,
but it must be borne in mind that the ‘-ing’ form in English has a far greater range of
meanings than the gerund in Spanish.
The gerund in Spanish is formed by adding -ando to the stem of -ar verbs and -iendo
to the stem of -er and -ir verbs. For example:
comprando buying
escribiendo writing
The following points, however, need to be remembered when forming the gerund:
- With -ir radical changing verbs. the vowel before the -ando or -iendo changes.
The change is always from -e to -i and from -o to -u, hence:
servir sirviendo
preferir prefiriendo
morir muriendo
reír riendo (Note: One i is omitted.) - -er and -ir verbs whose stems end in a vowel have a y instead of an i. The
pronunciation is not affected:
traer trayendo
oír oyendo
leer leyendo
So an alternative way of saying ‘he is buying’, when you want to emphasize the
continuous nature of the action would be está comprando. Other examples are: