Spanish textbooks and grammar books that cover Spanish verb conjugations frequently teach that the present tense is used to describe that an action is taking place now or right now. However, the Spanish textbooks normally do not teach that there is another common use for the present progressive tense. One can also use the present progressive tense to describe an action that is continuing in the present.

As embarrassed as I am to admit it, I learned this not from a Spanish grammar book or textbook but from a neighbor's 5 year old native Spanish speaking daughter who corrected my Spanish. When I first started learning Spanish, I made it a habit to practice my Spanish with any native Spanish speaker that I had the chance to practice my Spanish. I especially made it a habit to practice with my native Spanish speaking neighbors.

One day, when I had just started learning Spanish, I attempted to tell my native Spanish speaking neighbor and 5 year old daughter from the Dominican Republic that I was learning Spanish. Considering that my Spanish textbooks and grammar books taught me that the Spanish present progressive tense is only used to express actions that are in progress "now" and "right now," I chose not to use the present progressive tense when I wanted to communicate that "I am learning Spanish." I was not, in fact, learning or studying Spanish at that very moment.

As a result, I incorrectly used the wrong verb tense and said to my neighbor and his 5 year old daughter "Aprendo español." My neighbor did not correct my Spanish. He apparently did not want to embarrass a grown man in front of a 5 year old child. But his 5 year old daughter was outspoken enough to scold me and say "You don't say it like that! Se dice estoy aprendiendo español" (One says I am learning Spanish).

I remember wondering "how much could a 5 year old know about Spanish verb conjugations?" But after further investigation and asking several native Spanish speakers, I found out that the present progressive tense is not only used to describe actions in progress now or right now. The present progressive tense is also used in Spanish to say that an action is continuing in the present.

Here's an example:

Estamos aprendiendo a tocar la guitarra.
(We are learning to play the guitar.)

Patrick Jackson is the Founder of Learning Spanish Like Crazy. If you would like to learn real Latin American Spanish, then sign-up for our FREE weekly on-line teleclass and also get immediate access to over an hour of video and audio Spanish lessons. Visit http://www.learningspanishlikecrazy.com/
Or get a FREE interactive demo copy of the Verbarrator - the tool for learning Spanish Verb tenses that is so fun and easy that it´s addictive. Go here now: http://verbarrator.com/.