Which is the natural Spanish for “I'm going to the market tomorrow”?

Estoy yendo al mercado mañana.

The test for whether the progressive is the right choice is:

whether you could add *in this exact moment* and still make sense

whether the sentence is about the future

*Ella está comiendo* — if the subject changes to *ellos*, what happens to *comiendo*?

nothing — the gerund has one form and never agrees

Somebody in Lima says *ahorita estoy yendo*. That tells you:

they intend to come, without committing to a time — it can mean now, in ten minutes or in an hour

Estar + gerundio: the Spanish present progressive

Short answer

The Spanish present progressive is estar plus a gerund: estoy hablando, estás comiendo, está viviendo. Take the infinitive, drop -ar and add -ando, or drop -er or -ir and add -iendo. Use it only for something genuinely in progress now — Spanish uses the plain present far more than English does.

Course · Unit: The present CEFR A2 Reviewed by Jhoslyn Updated 2026-09-11

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 formula

estar (conjugated) + gerund (never changes).

Infinitive ends in	Drop	Add	Result
-ar	-ar	-ando	hablar → hablando
-er	-er	-iendo	comer → comiendo
-ir	-ir	-iendo	vivir → viviendo

Only estar moves. The gerund has one form and never agrees with anything.

Estoy hablando con mi mamá.
¿Qué estás haciendo?
Ella está comiendo.
Estamos viviendo en Lima.
Ellos no están trabajando hoy.

The irregular gerunds

A short list, all very common verbs.

Verb	Gerund
leer	leyendo	the i between vowels becomes y
oír	oyendo	same reason
ir	yendo	same reason
dormir	durmiendo	stem vowel shifts o → u
pedir	pidiendo	stem vowel shifts e → i
decir	diciendo	stem vowel shifts e → i
poder	pudiendo	o → u

The pattern behind the first three is mechanical: Spanish will not leave an unstressed i sitting between two vowels, so leiendo becomes leyendo.

Use it less than you think

This is the part most English speakers get wrong, and it is not a grammar error — it is a frequency error that makes otherwise correct Spanish sound translated.

English uses the progressive for almost everything current, including the near future. Spanish reserves it for what is literally in progress at this moment.

English	Spanish
I’m working in Lima this year	Trabajo en Lima este año.
I’m going to the market tomorrow	Voy al mercado mañana.
I’m studying Spanish (these days)	Estudio español.
I’m studying right now, call later	Estoy estudiando ahorita.

Only the last one needs the progressive, because it genuinely describes this minute. The plain present covers habits, ongoing arrangements, and the future — all the things English hands to the -ing form.

A useful check: if you could add in this exact moment and the sentence still makes sense, the progressive is right. Otherwise use the simple present.

The Peru footnote

The word you will hear attached to this tense constantly in Lima is ahorita — a diminutive of ahora, and a good deal vaguer than it looks. Ahorita estoy yendo can mean leaving now, leaving in ten minutes, or leaving in an hour. It signals intent, not a timestamp.

For the other great Peruvian hedge, see de repente, which means maybe here rather than suddenly. Both belong to the same habit: soften the commitment, keep the conversation comfortable.

→ The 9 Spanish question words, with examples for each

Topics The present Peruvian Spanish

Estar + gerundio

Eight questions on building the gerund, the irregular ones, and the frequency error that makes correct Spanish sound translated.

1The gerund of *comer* is:
Answer

comiendo — Drop -er and add -iendo. *Comido* is the past participle, which is a different form doing a different job.
2*Ellos no ___ trabajando hoy.*
Answer

están — The progressive is always *estar* plus the gerund, never *ser*. Only *estar* conjugates — the gerund has one form and never moves.
3Which is the natural Spanish for “I'm going to the market tomorrow”?
Answer

Voy al mercado mañana. — English hands the near future to the *-ing* form; Spanish uses the plain present. The progressive is for what is literally in progress this minute.
4The test for whether the progressive is the right choice is:
Answer

whether you could add *in this exact moment* and still make sense — *Estoy estudiando ahorita* passes; *estudio español* as a general statement does not. If it fails the test, use the simple present.
5The gerund of *leer* is:
Answer

leyendo — Spanish will not leave an unstressed *i* between two vowels, so *leiendo* becomes *leyendo*. *Oír* and *ir* do the same: *oyendo*, *yendo*.
6The gerund of *dormir* is:
Answer

durmiendo — The stem vowel shifts o → u. *Poder* does the same — *pudiendo* — and *pedir* and *decir* shift e → i.
7*Ella está comiendo* — if the subject changes to *ellos*, what happens to *comiendo*?
Answer

nothing — the gerund has one form and never agrees — Only *estar* changes: *ellos están comiendo*. The gerund is not an adjective and has nothing to agree with.
8Somebody in Lima says *ahorita estoy yendo*. That tells you:
Answer

they intend to come, without committing to a time — it can mean now, in ten minutes or in an hour — *Ahorita* is a diminutive of *ahora* and a good deal vaguer than it looks. It signals intent, not a timestamp — the same instinct as *de repente*.