Spanish Preterite Progressive Tense

What Is the Preterite Progressive Tense?

The past or preterite progressive tense is used to describe actions that were ongoing in the past but are viewed as completed. It emphasizes the process or continuity of the action within a defined time frame, similar to the preterite tense but with added focus on the action's progression:

• Estuvimos platicando toda la noche. (We were talking all night.)

• ¿No recuerdas cuánto tiempo estuviste jugando? (You don't remember how long you were playing?)

Note: Spanish progressive tenses aren't technically distinct grammatical tenses, but they usually express the exact same concepts as their corresponding progressive tenses in English, so we'll refer to them as "tenses" going forward.

How to Form the Preterite Progressive

The structure for forming the preterite progressive is:

• [preterite form of "estar"] + [present participle of main verb]

Let’s look at each component:

Preterite Form of "Estar"

Present Participle of Main Verb

To form the present participle ("gerundio" in Spanish) of a verb...

• For "-ar" verbs, replace their "-ar" ending with "-ando":

– hablar → hablando

• For "-er" and "-ir" verbs, replace their "-er" / "-ir" ending with "-iendo":

– comer → comiendo

– vivir → viviendo

Let’s see a few more examples of the preterite progressive in context:

• Estuve trabajando el día de mi aniversario. (I was working on my anniversary day.) 

• ¿Estuviste jugando videojuegos toda la noche? (Were you playing video games all night?)

• Estuvieron viviendo en esa ciudad por un tiempo. (They were living in that city for a while.)

• ¡El perro estuvo ladrando por cinco horas! (The dog was barking for five hours!)

When to Use the Preterite Progressive

The preterite progressive expresses what someone was doing during a particular past event or time. For example:

• Estuve trabajando toda la noche. (I was working all night.)

• Ayer estuvieron estudiando para el examen de hoy. (Yesterday they were studying for today’s exam.)

These examples focus on the fact that the action was ongoing but is now over. Since actions in the preterite progressive sentences are completed in the past, they usually include time clauses (e.g., "toda la semana" [all week], "ayer" [yesterday]) to indicate how long they were ongoing:

• Estuvimos pensando en tu propuesta toda la mañana. (We were thinking about your proposal all morning.)

• Mamá estuvo limpiando la casa por horas. (Mom was cleaning the house for hours.)

• Estuviste corriendo por el parque durante una hora. (You were running around the park for an hour.)

Preterite Progressive vs. Imperfect Progressive

The difference between the preterite progressive and the imperfect progressive often causes confusion, as they’re both used to describe ongoing or continuous actions in the past. 

The preterite progressive is used to emphasize that the continuous action is completed, and is often used with time expressions to specify the duration of the action. For example:

• Estuve cocinando durante tres horas. (I was cooking for three hours.) 

• La semana pasada estuve durmiendo solo seis horas. (Last week I was sleeping only six hours.)

With actions in the imperfect progressive, however, it isn’t clear whether the action was completed; rather, it emphasizes its ongoing nature, often being interrupted by or happening simultaneously with another action:

• Cuando llegué a casa, mamá estaba cocinando la cena. (When I got home, Mom was cooking dinner.)

• Estábamos durmiendo cuando, de repente, un ruido extraño nos despertó. (We were sleeping when suddenly a strange noise woke us up.)