Progressive tense
When do you use Progressive in Spanish or english and what's the difference between Progressive and continuous In advance thank you
2 Answers
As far as the names are concerned, progressive = continuous.
We use the Present Continuous in English to refer to:
1) Actions happening at the moment of speaking: He's tidying his room at the moment.
2) Temporary present actions: I'm doing a cooking course.
3) Future planned actions or events: I'm seeing my boss tomorrow.
We form the English Present Progressive with the present form of verb be and the gerund of the verb which expresses the action.
We use the Present Continuous in Spanish only when referring to something happening now, at the moment of speaking: Estoy tomando el sol. Irina y Iwan están desayunando ahora.
We form the Spanish Present Progressive with the present form of verb estar and the gerund. You can find more information about Spanish progressive tenses in this reference article.
The "progressive" is in no way restricted to the present tense (although that may be the most common use). It simply describes an action in progress (hence the name). e.g. "I was reading the newspaper when ...", "I will be reading the newspaper when ...", "I had been reading the newspaper when ...", "I will have been reading the newspaper when ...".
P.S. In this specific context progressive=continuous.
