Pura vida - PROGRAM SAMPLER

174 ciento setenta y cuatro | Capítulo 4 El trabajo y la ciudad Talking about actions in progress: Present progressive When you want to emphasize that an action is being carried out at the moment of speaking, you use the present progressive: Ahora mismo Alexis está haciendo la maleta. Sus padres están esperando en el aeropuertomientras él está manejando . Right now Alexis is packing his suitcase . His parents are waiting at the airport while he is driving . Form the present progressive with the present tense of estar + the present participle . In English, the present participle is the - ing form of a verb. In Spanish, the present participle ( gerundio in Spanish) is formed by dropping the infinitive ending and adding -ando ( -ar verbs), or -iendo ( -er and -ir verbs). Subject pronouns estar + present participle (yo) estoy habl ando com iendo escrib iendo (tú) estás (él, ella, Ud.) está (nosotros/as) estamos (vosotros/as) estáis (ellos, ellas, Uds.) están Stem-changing verbs change o → u and e → i in the present participle. Verb stems of an -er or -ir that end in a vowel, form the present participle with -yendo . decir → d i ciendo servir → s i rviendo dormir → d u rmiendo leer → le y endo pedir → p i diendo sentir → s i ntiendo oír → o y endo traer → tra y endo The use of present progressive in Spanish is much more restricted than in English; in Spanish it is only used to talk about an activity or action in progress at the moment: Alexis es el chico que está leyendo la guía. Alexis is the guy who is reading the guide . (reading is what he is doing right now) Never use the present progressive to talk about a future event (as in English). In Spanish, the simple present is used instead: ¿A qué hora sales mañana? El sábado hacemos la visita turística por Managua. At what time are you leaving tomorrow? On Saturday we are going on a tour around Nicaragua. Hablando de gramática 2 Animated Grammar Tutorial