{"id":7663,"date":"2017-08-29T00:24:43","date_gmt":"2017-08-29T00:24:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/portuguese\/?p=7663"},"modified":"2017-08-29T22:57:53","modified_gmt":"2017-08-29T22:57:53","slug":"time-tenses-in-portuguese-the-present-continuous","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/portuguese\/time-tenses-in-portuguese-the-present-continuous\/","title":{"rendered":"[Time tenses in Portuguese] – The present continuous"},"content":{"rendered":"

[Tempos verbais em Portugu\u00eas] <\/span><\/p>\n

Ei, galera! Hey, guys!<\/span><\/p>\n

Possibly one of the greatest challenges for Portuguese learners is mastering the large variety of time tenses in our language. With that in mind, we are going to run a new post series with the aim of showing and explaining verbs in the past, present and future.<\/span><\/p>\n

Then let\u2019s start with an easy one, the <\/span>present continuous<\/b>, also known as present progressive, a verb tense used to talk about what is happening at the moment. Therefore, the <\/span>present continuous<\/b> indicates an action that is still going on or that is prolonged in time without being finalized yet, thus expressing the idea of duration and continuity.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In English, we form the present continuous<\/strong> with the verb to be<\/em> in the present plus a verb in the <\/em><\/span>ING<\/b><\/em>, as in: I<\/span> am speak<\/span><\/i>ing<\/i><\/b>, we <\/span>are walk<\/span><\/i>ing<\/i><\/b>. The good news is that the same goes for Portuguese! The present continuous is composed of the <\/span>verbo estar\u00a0<\/span><\/i>(to be) in the present and a verb in the <\/span>ger\u00fandio <\/span><\/i>(gerund), with the ending <\/span>NDO<\/b>.<\/span><\/p>\n

First of all, let\u2019s review the <\/span>verbo estar\u00a0<\/span><\/i>in the present:<\/span><\/p>\n

eu estou (I am)<\/span><\/h2>\n

ele\/ela est\u00e1 (he\/she is)<\/span><\/h2>\n

voc\u00ea est\u00e1 (you are)<\/span><\/h2>\n

n\u00f3s estamos (we are)<\/span><\/h2>\n

voc\u00eas est\u00e3o (you are)<\/span><\/h2>\n

eles est\u00e3o (they are)<\/span><\/h2>\n

Take a look at how verbs are formed in the gerund<\/em>, that is, the verb root + the ending NDO<\/strong><\/em>:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

sorrir = sorr + ndo = sorrindo<\/strong> (to smile – smiling)<\/span><\/p>\n

viver = viv + ndo = vivendo<\/strong> (to live – living)<\/span><\/p>\n

andar = and + ndo = andando<\/strong> (to walk – walking)<\/span><\/p>\n

abrir = abr + ndo = abrindo<\/strong> (to open – opening)<\/p>\n

correr = corr + ndo = correndo<\/strong> (to run – running)<\/p>\n

falar = fal + ndo = falando<\/strong> (to talk – talking)<\/p>\n

Now read some samples sentences in the present continuous in Portuguese and see if you get the general idea:<\/p>\n