News events: present and imperfect continuous
Learning outcomes
I can describe ongoing events in the present and the past, using the present and imperfect continuous tenses.
I can pronounce [n] and [ñ] correctly.
- Year 9
News events: present and imperfect continuous
Learning outcomes
I can describe ongoing events in the present and the past, using the present and imperfect continuous tenses.
I can pronounce [n] and [ñ] correctly.
Lesson details
Vocabulary and transcripts for this lessons
Key learning points
- The sound-spelling correspondences [n] and [ñ] are pronounced differently: like the [n] in 'poner' and the [ñ] in 'año'.
- 'Estar' means 'to be' and is used to express a state or location. 'You are' is 'estás' and 'you were' is 'estabas'.
- We use 'estar' in the present + present participle to describe ongoing events. This is called the present continuous.
- We use 'estar' in the imperfect + present participle to describe past ongoing events; this is the imperfect continuous.
- The present participle stays the same: remove the infinitive ending and add -ando for -ar verbs and -iendo for -er/-ir.
Keywords
Present continuous - describes events happening right now, e.g. 'I am doing'
Imperfect continuous - verb tense used to talk about ongoing actions in the past, what was happening
Estar - verb meaning 'to be', also the auxiliary verb for the present and imperfect continuous tenses
Common misconception
In the imperfect continuous I can tell who the subject of the verb is by looking at the form of 'estar' being used.
The 'I' and 'he, she, it' forms of the imperfect tense of 'estar' are the same: 'estaba'. Therefore you have to use the context to work out who the subject of the verb is when this form is being used.
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