El present continuous y su contraste con el present simple

Si miras por la ventana y cuentas lo que ves, necesitas el present continuous: «A man is walking his dog», «The children are playing». Expresa acciones que están ocurriendo ahora mismo. Aprenderás a formarlo y a distinguirlo del present simple.

Objetivos

• ✓Formar el present continuous con am / is / are + verbo-ing
• ✓Aplicar las reglas ortográficas de la terminación -ing
• ✓Hacer negativas, preguntas y respuestas cortas
• ✓Elegir entre present simple y present continuous

1. Formación

sujeto + am / is / are + verbo-ing

Afirmativa	Negativa	Pregunta	Respuesta corta
I’m reading.	I’m not reading.	Am I reading?	Yes, you are.
She’s reading.	She isn’t reading.	Is she reading?	No, she isn’t.
They’re reading.	They aren’t reading.	Are they reading?	Yes, they are.

2. Ortografía de la terminación -ing

Regla	Ejemplos
En general: + ing	read → reading, play → playing, study → studying
Acabado en -e muda: quita la e	write → writing, dance → dancing, make → making
Una sílaba (o acento final) consonante-vocal-consonante: dobla la consonante	swim → swimming, run → running, sit → sitting, get → getting
Acabado en -ie: ie → y	lie → lying, die → dying

3. ¿Present simple o present continuous?

Present simple	Present continuous
Hábitos, rutinas, hechos generales	Acciones que ocurren ahora o en este periodo
always, usually, every day, on Mondays	now, right now, at the moment, today, look!, listen!
I play tennis on Saturdays.	I’m playing tennis now.
She usually wears jeans.	Today she’s wearing a dress.

Recuerda

• ★am / is / are + verbo-ing.
• ★-e muda desaparece (writing); consonante final se dobla en swim → swimming.
• ★Negativa: isn’t / aren’t / I’m not + -ing. Pregunta: Is she…ing?
• ★Simple = hábito; continuous = ahora (now, at the moment, look!).