Questions like: “¿Estás en casa?” > “Are you at home?” and “¿Qué estás haciendo?” > “What are you doing?” are the best situations to use present progressive in Spanish. However, we should pay attention whether verbs are regular or irregular.
Irregular verbs
As we know there are regular and irregular verbs. We have already seen the conjugation of regular ones. Now, we will focus on irregular verbs. There are two types of irregular verbs: Those which don’t keep their roots (“dormir”- “durmiendo”) > “ to sleep” and (“morir” – “muriendo”) > “to die”, and those whose spelling makes it change the suffix “-iendo” into “-yendo”: (“oír” – “oyendo”) > “to hear” and (“ir”- “yendo”) > “to go”.
| “ir” > “estar yendo” > “to be going” |
| “Yo estoy yendo.” I am going. “Tú estás yendo.” You are going. “Él está yendo.” He is going. “Nosotros estamos yendo.” We are going. “Vosotros estáis yendo.” You are going. “Ellos están yendo.” They are going. |
| “dormir”> “estar durmiendo” > “to be sleeping” |
| “Yo estoy durmiendo.” I am sleeping. “Tú estás durmiendo.” You are sleeping. “Él está durmiendo.” He is sleeping. “Nosotros estamos durmiendo.” We are sleeping. “Vosotros estáis durmiendo.” You are sleeping “Ellos están durmiendo.” They are sleeping. |
Present progressive in the negative and questions
We have already seen verb forms in present progressive, now let’s explore the negative and interrogative form of this tense.
| Interrogative sentences | Negative sentences |
| “¿Qué ocurre?” What’s the matter? “¿Están yendo los ingenieros a la montaña?” Are the engineers going to the mountain? “¿Qué está haciendo?” What is he doing ? | “El aire acondicionado no está funcionando.” The air conditioning is not working. “No están yendo a la montaña.” They are not going to the mountain. “Está durmiendo en su casa.” He is sleeping at home. |
Now you are able to use not only irregular verbs and negative sentences, but also how to make questions in the present progressive. If you are really interested in going further with this language, Bright Lingua offers the most communicative and dynamic lessons to learn Spanish.