Estar + gerund: what is happening now

What is happening right now

To say that something is going on at this moment, Spanish uses estar + gerund. The gerund is the Spanish -ing form: hablando (speaking), comiendo (eating). You already know estar from Estar: how you are and where things are:

Making the gerund

Take the infinitive (the dictionary form), remove -ar, -er or -ir, and add:

The gerund never changes: it is the same for yo, tú, ellos. Only estar changes.

• Estoy hablando por teléfono.I'm talking on the phone.
• ¿Qué estás haciendo?What are you doing?
• Los niños están jugando en el parque.The children are playing in the park.
• ¿Estáis viendo la tele?Are you watching TV?
• Estamos comiendo, ¿puedes llamar más tarde?We're eating, can you call later?

Spelling: -yendo

When the stem ends in a vowel, -iendo becomes -yendo, because Spanish doesn't write an unstressed i between two vowels:

• leer → leyendo, oír → oyendo, traer → trayendo, construir → construyendo

• Mi padre está leyendo el periódico.My father is reading the newspaper.

Stem changes in -ir verbs

The -ir verbs that change their stem in the present (Stem-changing verbs e → i (pedir, repetir), Stem-changing verbs o → ue, u → ue (poder, jugar)) also change in the gerund, but in a smaller way:

• e → i: pedir → pidiendo, decir → diciendo, repetir → repitiendo, servir → sirviendo
• o → u: dormir → durmiendo, morir → muriendo

-ar and -er verbs don't change: pensar → pensando, volver → volviendo, querer → queriendo. One -er exception to learn: poder → pudiendo.

• El bebé está durmiendo.The baby is sleeping.
• ¿Qué está diciendo el profesor?What is the teacher saying?

When Spanish uses it, and when it doesn't

Spanish uses the simple present much more than English. ¿Qué haces? can mean “What do you do?” or “What are you doing?”. The progressive stresses that the action is in progress right now.

• Plans for the future normally use the present or ir a (Ir and ir a + infinitive (plans)): Mañana trabajo or Mañana voy a trabajar, not usually estoy trabajando.
• States don't go in the progressive: Tengo un coche (I have a car), not Estoy teniendo un coche. Ser, estar itself and tener for possession are rarely used this way.
• Ir and venir are used in the progressive much less than in English: Voy (I'm coming, I'm going) is the normal answer to someone calling you.

With reflexive verbs

The reflexive pronoun (Reflexive verbs for the daily routine (levantarse)) can go before estar or be attached to the end of the gerund. Both are correct. When it's attached, the gerund takes a written accent to keep its stress:

• Me estoy duchando.I'm having a shower.
• Estoy duchándome.I'm having a shower.

More on where pronouns go in Where pronouns go: before the verb, or attached.

Common mistakes

• Soy hablando → Estoy hablando. The progressive always uses estar, never ser.
• Estoy hablar → Estoy hablando. After estar you need the gerund, not the infinitive.
• Leiendo → leyendo; oiendo → oyendo.
• Pediendo, dormiendo → pidiendo, durmiendo.
• Estoy teniendo hambre → Tengo hambre. States use the simple present.

Latin America

The structure is the same. For a group, Latin America uses ustedes están where Spain says vosotros estáis: ¿Qué están haciendo?