Beginning Spanish ¡Empecemos por aquí!

308 •  Chapter 4: La vida que vivimos My favorite activity is reading. ( Mi actividad favorita es leer . Reading is a noun; no action is in progress.) We’re watching a movie on Saturday. ( Vamos a ver una película el sábado . This is a future action.) In contrast, these sentences all contain examples of present progressive tense: I can’t read when I am listening to music. No puedo leer cuando estoy escuchando música. Run! The bus is waiting for you! ¡Corre! ¡El autobús te está esperando! That noise is bothering me. Ese ruido me está molestando. Why are you crying? ¿Por qué estás llorando? She always calls right as I am sitting down. Siempre llama justo cuando me estoy sentando. In the sentences above, there are three examples with pronouns. “El autobús te está esperando” has a direct object pronoun, “Ese ruido me está molestando” has an indirect object pronoun, and “Me estoy sentando” has a reflexive pronoun. In each of these examples, the pronoun is before the conjugated verb estar . However, these pronouns can also be attached to the end of the present participle. When this occurs, an accent mark must be added to the participle: El autobús está esperándote. Ese ruido está molestándome. Estoy sentándome. ¿Estás escribiéndome? You will never say “Estás estando.” The verb estar does not appear in the present progressive tense. However, the verb ser does. It is common for expressing how someone is behaving or acting: “La profesora está siendo exigente 35 esta semana.” There are no stem changes with -ar and -er verbs in the present participle, but there are with -ir stem-­ changing verbs: morir muriendo pedir pidiendo servir sirviendo seguir siguiendo decir diciendo dormir durmiendo There are also a few spelling changes to be aware of: 35 strict, demanding