1. They are having a look in a shop

Icono de iDevice Present Continuous Positive: Form
Shopping around
By Sam Javanrouh. C. Commons

Paco, Sonia and their mother are shopping around. However, Paco isn't worried about the price of the suits. Now, he has a lot of money thanks to the lottery. They are just looking for the best suit that fits him.

What tense do we use in English to refer to actions happening at the moment of speaking?


Icono de iDevice Example Exercise

Watch the following video about what the people in it are doing.

To Be + -ing
To be or not to be...
By Dan Goldman. C. Commons

Notice in the previous passage the form of the present continuous

To be Present Participle (-ing)
Paco is shopping around
I am looking for a new suit
We are studying English at university

So, the form of the present continuous is very easy. However, the first thing you must remember is how to add suffix -ing to bare infinitives in order to form the present participle, which, by the way, has the same form as gerunds; that is to say, both the present participles and the gerunds of English verbs are formed in the same way: by adding -ing to the bare infinitive. Click here if you don't remember how to form the present participle and gerunds of verbs.

Icono de IDevice de pregunta

Which of the following sentences are correct?

The Globe
By McKay Savage. C. Commons
1.
  
Paco is buing tickets for the theatre.
Paco is buying tickets for the theatre.

2.
  
Look! Hamlet is lieing on the floor.
Look! Hamlet is lying on the floor.

3.
  
Paco's mother is panicking because she can't find a suit for him.
Paco's mother is panicing because she can't find a suit for him.

4.
  
Paco's friends are comeing to the theatre with him.
Paco's friends are coming to the theatre with him.

5.
  
Sofía is begining to be fed up with her brother.
Sofía is beginning to be fed up with her brother.

Icono IDevice Further knowledge
  • Click here to read about the Present Continuous or Progressive tense. Notice that you can also complete some exercises to improve not only its form, but also its uses, which we will see in the next section.

Icono IDevice Curiosity

William Shakespeare, First Folio
By Anonymous. Public domain

To be or not to be...

Kenneth Brannagh performing Prince Hamlet in Hamlet (1996)

Surely, this is not the first time you read or hear this sentence. It is pronounced by Prince Hamlet in the play of the same name (Act III, Scene i), by William Shakespeare (1564-1616), who is considered by many as the most important playwright in the history of Literature. These words have been repeated and repeated throughout history in lots of different languages and the play has been adapted lots of times. To say but one example, there are, at least, eleven film adaptations of the play, being the first one Hamlet, in 1920, and the latest, Hamlet A.D.D., in 2009.

Listen to this famous soliloquy by the Prince of Denmark (performed on this occasion by Kenneth Brannagh) paying attention to intonation and pronunciation. Don't worry if you don't understand every word of the soliloquy. If you want to read it at the time you listen to it, click here.


One of Shakespeare's plays is being performed in The Great Theatre these days. Paco and his friends have bought the tickets and they are going to the theatre tomorrow.

As you can see, the sentence they are going to the theatre tomorrow is in the Present Continuous tense. However it does not refer to the moment of speaking. It refers to the future (tomorrow). Can you guess why? Let's study the main uses of the Present Continuous or Progressive tense in the following section!