Every Spanish past tense has a continuous (progressive) form to express an action which is continuing or ongoing in the past.
The progressive tense of the El Pretérito Perfecto is formed following this pattern for most regular verbs:
|
Estar in El Pretérito Perfecto + |
-ando (-AR verbs) |
|
-iendo (-ER and -IR verbs) |
It works the same way as the English present perfect progressive "have been doing". But remember it is "estar" and not "ser".
Look at and listen to these examples:
He estado estudiando durante horas.
I have been studying for hours.
Estás sudoroso. ¿Has estado bailando?
You are sweaty. Have you been dancing?
Laura ha estado viendo a su novio a escondidas.
Laura has been seeing her boyfriend secretly.
Hemos estado hablando sobre las próximas vacaciones.
We have been talking about the next holidays.
Habéis estado chateando por skype una hora.
You have been chatting through Skype for an hour.
Han estado leyendo las condiciones del contrato.
They have been reading the terms and conditions of the contract.
|
ESTAR |
Verbs ending in -AR |
Verbs ending in -ER, -IR |
|
he estado |
llamando |
aprendiendo |
|
has estado |
||
|
ha estado |
||
|
hemos estado |
||
|
habéis estado |
||
|
han estado |
For irregular gerunds see List of Spanish Irregular Gerunds of the form -iendo and List of Spanish Irregular Gerunds of the form -yendo
See also: Forming El Pretérito Pluscuamperfecto Progresivo with estar + gerund (pluperfect progressive)
Learn more about these related Spanish grammar topics
Examples and resources
Han estado leyendo las condiciones del contrato.
They have been reading the terms and conditions of the contract.
He estado estudiando durante horas.
I have been studying for hours.
Habéis estado chateando por skype una hora.
You have been chatting through Skype for an hour.
Hemos estado hablando sobre las próximas vacaciones.
We have been talking about the next holidays.
Laura ha estado viendo a su novio a escondidas.
Laura has been seeing her boyfriend secretly.
Estás sudoroso. ¿Has estado bailando?
You are sweaty. Have you been dancing?
