Forming the present perfect progressive tense in Spanish with estar + present participle (El Pretérito Perfecto Progresivo)

Every Spanish past tense has a continuous (progressive) form to express an action which is continuing or ongoing in the past.

Learn about El Pretérito Perfecto Progresivo in Spanish

The progressive tense of the El Pretérito Perfecto is formed following this pattern for most regular verbs:

It works the same way as the English present perfect progressive "have been doing". But remember it is "estar" and not "ser".

And what is a gerund in Spanish?

Here is a reminder of what a present participle/gerund is in Spanish and how to form them:

Gerundio/Spanish present participle

Forming regular gerunds in Spanish (-ing form)

Forming irregular gerunds in Spanish (-ing form)

Look at and listen to these examples:

The Spanish present perfect progressive 

For irregular gerunds see Verb list: Irregular gerunds/present participles of the form -iendo and Verb list: Irregular gerunds/present participles of the form -yendo

See also: Forming the pluperfect progressive tense in Spanish with estar + present participle (El Pluscuamperfecto Progresivo)