The Spanish past progressive: estaba + gerundio
The past progressive is estar in the imperfecto plus a gerund: estaba comiendo, estábamos hablando. It says an action was in progress at a point in the past. Spanish uses it much less than English does, because the plain imperfecto — comía, hablábamos — already means "was eating", "was talking".
Draft copy. Every claim needs a native-speaker check before publishing — the byline is what makes this citable, so it has to be earned.
The build
Estar in the imperfecto, then the gerund. Only the first half conjugates.
| estar | gerund | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| yo | estaba | + | hablando |
| tú | estabas | comiendo | |
| usted / él / ella | estaba | escribiendo | |
| nosotros | estábamos | ||
| ustedes / ellos | estaban |
- Yo estaba cocinando cuando llegó mi hermana.
- ¿Qué estabas haciendo?
- No estábamos escuchando.
The gerund, including the ones that change
-ar → -ando. hablar → hablando, trabajar → trabajando.
-er / -ir → -iendo. comer → comiendo, escribir → escribiendo.
Two groups break:
A vowel before the ending gives -yendo. leer → leyendo, oír → oyendo, creer → creyendo, caer → cayendo, construir → construyendo.
-ir verbs that change their stem in the present change it here too. decir → diciendo, pedir → pidiendo, servir → sirviendo, dormir → durmiendo, morir → muriendo, sentir → sintiendo, venir → viniendo, poder → pudiendo.
Dormir is the one people get wrong. It is durmiendo, never dormiendo.
Where the pronoun goes
Two positions, both correct, and nothing in between.
- Me estaba lavando las manos.
- Estaba lavándome las manos. — attached to the gerund, and the gerund then needs a written accent.
Estaba me lavando is impossible. So is estaba lavando me.
You need this less than you think
English marks the progressive constantly. Spanish does not, because the imperfecto is already doing that job.
- Cuando llegó, yo cocinaba. — When she arrived, I was cooking.
- Antes trabajaba en el centro. — I used to work in the centre.
So when is estaba + gerundio the better choice? When you want to put weight on the action being in mid-flow, especially if something cuts it off:
- Recién estaba saliendo cuando me llamaste. — I was literally on my way out.
- ¿Qué estabas haciendo a esa hora? — the standard question, and the standard answer comes back in the same shape.
One place Spanish simply refuses: movement verbs. Estaba yendo al mercado is not how anyone says “I was going to the market”. Say iba al mercado. Same for venir — venía, not estaba viniendo.
Estuve haciendo — the closed version
Swap the imperfecto for the pretérito and the action gets both ends marked.
- Estaba trabajando cuando se fue la luz. — in progress, interrupted.
- Estuve trabajando toda la noche. — a finished block of work, reported as one thing.
It is the same estaba / estuvo split as everywhere else in the past, just with a gerund hanging off it.
Try it
- Cuando sonó el teléfono, yo ___ (preparar) la cena.
- Mi hijo ___ (dormir) cuando llegué.
- Ellas ___ (leer) en la sala.
- Ayer ___ (yo, estudiar) toda la tarde y terminé el capítulo.
- ___ al mercado cuando la vi. (I was going)
→ 1 estaba preparando · 2 estaba durmiendo · 3 estaban leyendo · 4 estuve estudiando · 5 Iba — not estaba yendo.
Related
- Estar + gerundio: the Spanish present progressive — the same structure one tense earlier
- Pretérito vs imperfecto: the question to ask instead — why estaba and estuve are not interchangeable
- Ser and estar in the past
Topics The pastPeruvian Spanish
What were you doing?
Seven on estaba + gerundio, including the two places Spanish would rather use the plain imperfecto.
-
1Cuando sonó el teléfono, yo ___ la cena.
Answer
estaba preparando — *Estaba preparando* — the cooking was in progress and the phone cut across it. *Estaba preparado* means “I was ready”, which is a different word altogether.
-
2Mi hijo estaba ___ cuando llegué a la casa.
Answer
durmiendo — *Dormir* changes its stem in the gerund: o becomes u. *Estaba dormido* is correct Spanish but means “he was asleep”, a state rather than an action.
-
3Which sentence is how a Peruvian would say “I was going to the market when I saw her”?
Answer
Iba al mercado cuando la vi. — Movement verbs stay out of the progressive in Spanish — the plain imperfecto *iba* already means “was going”. *Fui* would report a finished trip instead.
-
4Choose the correct sentence.
Answer
Me estaba lavando las manos. — The pronoun goes in front of *estaba* or attaches to the gerund — *estaba lavándome* — and never lands between the two halves.
-
5Ayer ___ trabajando toda la noche y terminé el informe.
Answer
estuve — *Toda la noche* marks both ends of the work, so the pretérito *estuve* reports it as one finished block. *Estaba trabajando* would leave it open, waiting for an interruption.
-
6Ella estaba ___ el periódico cuando entré.
Answer
leyendo — A vowel before the ending turns -iendo into -yendo: *leyendo*, *oyendo*, *creyendo*, *cayendo*.
-
7¿Qué ___ haciendo cuando te llamé?
Answer
estabas — *¿Qué estabas haciendo?* is the standard question about an action in mid-flow, and the answer normally comes back in the same shape.