Estar + gerundio

The present tense with ser + gerundio is a progressive form. It is used to express what one is doing at a particular moment.

The two use cases are:

  • to highlight that an action is happening at one specific moment (can be at the moment of speaking, but does not have to be)

Example: Estoy viendo mi serie favorita. (I am watching my favorite series)

  • to point out that an action is constantly repeated

Example: Mi padre siempre me está contando historias de su juventud. (My father is always telling me stories from his youth.)

 

To form the estar + gerundio, the following structure is applied:

Subject estar Gerundio
yo estoy

hablando

aprendiendo

viviendo

estás
él/ella/usted está
nosotros/-as estamos
vosotros/-as estáis
ellos/ellas/ustedes están

Thus, for the formation of the gerundio, the infinitive ending is replaced by the following endings:

Ending Example
Infinitive Gerundio Infinitive Gerundio
-ar -ando hablar hablando
-er -iendo aprender aprendiendo
-ir -iendo vivir viviendo

For verbs that change their stem vowel in the singular and third person plural (e -> i/ie, o -> ue), the vowel also changes in the gerundio.

Infinitive Gerundio
decir diciendo
divertir divirtiendo
dormir durmiendo
morir muriendo
pedir pidiendo
poder pudiendo
preferir prefiriendo
servir sirviendo

For verbs where the stem ends in a vowel, the ending -yendo is used instead of -iendo.

Example: 

ir – yendo

leer – leyendo

oír – oyendo

traer – trayendo