Spanish: An Essential Grammar

The imperfect progressive

This is used in similar ways to the present progressive, but with reference

to past time:

Cuando llegué estaban cenando.

When I got there they were having supper.

Se estaban viendo demasiado.

They were seeing too much of each other.

The preterite progressive

This is used primarily when the action is set within a specific time frame

(typically indicated by words such as durante‘for’ and hasta‘until’):

La estuve esperando hasta las dos.

I was waiting for her until two o’clock.

The future progressive

This is used to describe an action that will bein progress at a certain time

in the future or to express supposition about the present:

A estas horas estarán acostando a los niños.

At this time they’ll be putting the children to bed.

Note: The conditional progressive can also be used to express supposition, but with

reference to the past: Estarían cenando ‘They must have been having supper’.

The progressive forms of the compound tenses

The perfect and pluperfect progressive tenses are used for actions that have

or hadbeen in progress recently:

(Este mes) he estado haciendo cuentas.

(This month) I’ve been looking at the finances.

Habían estado buscando casa.

They had been looking for a house.

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Uses of
tenses

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