estar + Gerund

Estar Plus Gerund for Ongoing Action

Level 3

Estar + gerund highlights an action in progress at the reference time.

How It Works

Estic llegint focuses on the reading as underway now. Estàvem preparant el sopar places that ongoing action in a past setting. Conjugate estar for person and tense while the gerund remains unchanged.

Regular gerunds commonly end in -ant, -ent or -int: parlant, perdent, dormint. Frequent irregular forms include fent, dient and veient. Do not substitute a participle such as llegit for the gerund merely because both are nonfinite verb forms.

Catalan also uses the simple present for many current actions; estar + gerund is not obligatory whenever English uses an -ing form. With an object pronoun, both ho estic llegint and estic llegint-ho are possible. Keep the group together in one allowed position.

Examples (3)

  1. Estic preparant el dinar.

    I am preparing lunch.

  2. Estaven llegint quan vaig arribar.

    They were reading when I arrived.

  3. Ho estem revisant ara.

    We are reviewing it now.

How It Connects

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estar + GerundLevel 3Estar Plus Gerund for Ongoing Action

Learn This First

Conjugate estar for person and time. Recognize the gerund as a nonfinite form.

Words in This Pattern