Presente Continuos

Conjugation of the present continuous

The structure of the present continuous (Present Continuous) in English is simple:

[SUBJECT] + am / are / is (verb to be) + [verb ING (gerund)]

Conjugación	Significado
I am singing	yo estoy cantando
you are singing	tú estás cantando
he is singing	él está cantando
we are singing	nosotros estamos cantando
you are singing	vosotros estáis cantando
they are singing	ellos están cantando

Construction of the gerund

As a general rule to form the gerund in English "-ing" is added.

But must take into account some considerations:

Gerund verbs ending in -ie

Completion "-ie" with "ying" is replaced.

Verbo	Gerundio
die	dying
lie	lying

Gerund verbs ending in -e

The "-e" final is replaced by "-ing"

Verbo	Gerundio
use	using
have	having

Bending of the final consonant in the formation of the gerund

Many double their consonant verbs to formally end the gerund:

Verbo	Gerundio
get	getting
set	setting
forbid	forbidding

So that the bending is made you will have to meet these three conditions:

The word ends in a single consonant (other than r, w, x or y) [example: set]

The last consonant is preceded by a single vowel. [example: let]

The word is monosyllabic or the accent falls on the last syllable or word ending in "L"

The negation in the Present Continuous

Negation with full verbs (ie no manners and no auxiliary) is very simple:

[SUBJECT] + am / are / is (verb "to be") + not + [verb ING (gerund)]

yo no estoy cantando

él no está cantando

The question in the present continuous

To construct the question you just have to reverse the order of subject and verb to be:

Structure of the question:

am / are / is + [SUBJECT] + [verb "-ing"]?

Conjugación	Significado
am I singing?	¿estoy cantando?
are you singing?	¿estás cantando?
is he singing?	¿está cantando?
are we singing?	¿estamos cantando?
are you singing?	¿estáis cantando?
are they singing?	¿están cantando?

Exercise