Progressive Tense

This chapter is optional because language scenarios for the progressive tense can mostly be (simply) replaced by other tenses. For example:

• Ahora mismo hablo español. (Right now, I am speaking Spanish.)

• Trabajo ahora. (I am working now.)

• Trabajaba. (I was working.)

Note the first two examples of presente (Present Indicative). Based on their context, English must use the Present Continuous for translation. Because the Simple Present in English implies "habitual action" and cannot express the meaning of "action right now", "I work now" cannot be used to replace the expression "I am working now". The third example is imperfecto (Imperfect Past), which inherently corresponds to the was+doing structure.

Compared to presente which can express the meaning of progressive, the specialized Progressive Tense is generally used to emphasize "in progress". The grammatical structure of the Progressive Tense is very simple; Present Progressive is Estar + Gerundio. Gerundio is the gerund (participle), and its formation is also quite regular (close to the regularity of English present participle -ing). Moreover, once you learn the gerundio, you actually naturally master the Past Progressive and Future Progressive as well ("Buy One Get Two Free"). So although the Progressive Tense is not strictly "necessary content", this tutorial still includes it as optional content.

We start with the "Basic Component" of the Progressive Tense — Gerundio (Gerund).

Gerundio (Present Participle)

Gerundio corresponds exactly to the present participle (-ing structure) in English.

The only exception: When English needs to treat an action as a noun, it also uses the -ing structure of the verb (called "Gerund" in English grammar, e.g., "Speaking spanish is difficult"). But Spanish directly uses the verb infinitive in this case: Hablar español es difícil.

The ending replacement rules for Gerundio:

But note that the -iendo replacement for the -er/-ir group starts with i, which will trigger some derivative rules based on the "Sound-based" principle. These are typically not special rules, but rather deductions of the more underlying "Sound-based" principle in these situations:

1. If the last syllable of the verb infinitive has no consonant, then i will become consonant y, forming a syllable with a consonant. For example leer -> leyendo, ir -> yendo

2. If the consonant of the last syllable of the verb infinitive is ñ or ll, then ñ or ll will swallow the following i (because ñ essentially contains the i sound, and ll is the i sound itself).

"Consonant-Vowel Duality": The sound [i] has "Consonant-Vowel Duality" — it is both a consonant and a vowel, corresponding to the consonant letter y and the vowel letter i respectively. When this sound plays the role of a consonant, it appears as y; and when it plays the role of a vowel, it appears as i. Rule 1 above is essentially because when the last syllable without a consonant is replaced by -iendo (e.g., leer -> leiendo), the i in it automatically plays the role of a consonant in pronunciation (just read le-i-endo together to feel it). In this case, we explicitly convert its "external image" to the consonant form, which is the letter y.

Stem-Changing Gerunds

Gerundio also needs to undergo vowel substitution (stem-change) like boot-verbs in presente conjugation or sandal-verbs in pretérito. The substitution method is exactly the same as sandal-verbs in pretérito, but the scope is slightly different:

• Substitution scope is limited to all -ir boot-verbs, plus poder

• Substitution method: e -> i, o -> u

The following "formula" describes the relationship between stem-changing gerunds and sandal-verbs:

Specifically, stem-changing gerunds are actually three verbs more than sandal-verbs: poder, venir, decir.

Here are common stem-changing gerunds:

Except for decir, venir, poder marked in bold at the top, other features are also similar to the vowel substitution rules of sandal verbs:

• The e in the last three rows, after being replaced by i, collapses with the i in the ending (ii -> i).

• To demonstrate that the use of derivatives is always the same as the primitive word, the table also lists several "primitive word - derivative pairs" as examples: pedir and despedir, seguir and conseguir.

Although we compare the gerundio form of verbs with pretérito conjugation, you may notice that gerundio only has one form — it does not change with person. This is because gerundio and person conjugation are different grammatical components, which we explain in detail in the next section.

Usage Scenarios of Present Progressive

The grammatical structure of Present Progressive is actually the Verbal Periphrasis (Perífrasis Verbal) we discussed in the "Near Future" chapter:

In this structure:

• The auxiliary verb (Verbo auxiliar) estar is responsible for conjugation, providing tense and person information, but losing its original literal meaning.

• The main verb (Verbo principal) appears in its gerundio form, responsible for providing actual meaning.

So gerundio is just the second part of the verbal periphrasis, and conjugation is handled by the auxiliary verb estar in the first part. This is why gerundio itself does not conjugate according to person.

If we analyze deeper, the "Estar + Gerundio" verb phrase can be considered a mixed grammar of inflectional and analytic features: using gerundio (verb variation) to express "in progress" belongs to inflectional grammar; while stripping tense and person information to be handled by the auxiliary verb estar is an analytic feature. We mentioned before that analytic grammar has a lower learning threshold and is more "populist", which is confirmed again here: the grammatical structure of the progressive tense is very simple precisely because the conjugation information regarding tense and person is stripped out and handled by estar (so one only needs to memorize the conjugation of estar).

We continue to use the previous examples to demonstrate the use of Present Progressive:

It can be seen that even without time adverbials emphasizing "now" like ahora, the Present Progressive is sufficient to indicate that the action is in progress. While the Present Indicative, due to its "ambiguity", generally implies general truth or habit unless combined with the time adverbial ahora to express the meaning of "progressive".

"Expansion" of English Progressive vs "Conservatism" of Spanish Progressive

The grammatical scope applicable to the English Present Progressive tense has some expansion (this expansion is even still ongoing). For example, Present Progressive can be used to express the Future Tense:

• I am leaving tomorrow.

So, although the be+doing structure belongs to Present Progressive in form, it might be Future Tense in function, which needs to be distinguished according to context: "I am leaving now" vs "I am leaving tomorrow". Strictly speaking, "am leaving" in "I am leaving tomorrow" is logically contradictory to tomorrow.

If "I am leaving tomorrow" belongs to the "using Present Continuous to express Future meaning" that already exists in English, many other Present Continuous grammars might have originally been grammatical errors. But English's unique inclusiveness constantly accepts various "wrong grammars" and "regularizes" these errors, leading to very fast changes in English grammar. In daily use of English, especially in spoken language, the scope of use of the progressive tense is constantly expanding, even to the extent of "abuse". A large number of expressions considered wrong by traditional grammar have entered daily use and been accepted, for example:

• I am not understanding you. (Correct way: I don't understand you.)

• I'm Lovin' It. (McDonald's famous slogan)

But please do not bring this "Progressive Expansion" of English into Spanish Progressive. Spanish Progressive is strictly limited to its original usage — indicating action in progress.

Based on the feature mentioned earlier that the verbal periphrasis uses the auxiliary verb estar for tense and person conjugation, we can easily master the Imperfect Progressive (Imperfecto Progresivo) and Future Progressive (Futuro Progresivo) corresponding to the Past Progressive and Future Progressive in English respectively after learning the Present Progressive. The daily usage frequency of these two tenses is not high (the former overlaps with impefecto), but belongs to the specific learning of "Buy One Get Two Free".

Imperfect Progressive (Imperfecto Progresivo)

Just use the imperfecto conjugation of estar in the "Estar + Gerundio" structure: Estaba/Estabas/Estaba/Estábamos/Estaban + Gerundio

Note that all the Imperfect Progressive expressions in the examples above can be replaced by imperfecto — the meaning is exactly the same, just the tone is slightly lighter. Using Imperfect Progressive in these sentences is just to further emphasize "action in progress".

Future Progressive (Futuro Progresivo)

Just use the Simple Future conjugation of estar in the "Estar + Gerundio" structure: Estaré/Estarás/Estará/Estaremos/Estarán + Gerundio

We don't need to systematically learn the Simple Future based on conjugation, just remember the Simple Future conjugation of estar. The standard usage scenario of Future Progressive is exactly the same as English will be doing, used to express actions being done at a certain moment in the future.

But Spanish Future Progressive has an additional daily usage: used to express guess/speculation about the present state, where estar conjugation translated into English is no longer will be, but must be or is probably.