Introduction to Spanish Present Participles

The present participle is relatively easy to form for the majority of Spanish verbs. Study the following chart to see how most present participles are formed:

To form the present participle:

AR	ER	IR
drop the - ar	drop the - er	drop the - ir
and add - ando	and add - iendo *	and add - iendo *

Examples:
bail ar = bail ando	com er = com iendo	decid ir = decid iendo
habl ar = habl ando	hac er = hac iendo	abr ir = abr iendo

* ¡¡¡ Hay excepciones para todo !!! (See below!)

There are no irregularities in the formation of -ar verb present participles.

ER and IR verbs with stems ending in a vowel use -yendo rather than -iendo, in order to avoid placing the weak vowel " i " between two vowels and further avoiding the formation of a diphthong. Some examples of these follow:

	Drop the -er / -ir	Present Participle
ER	caer -> ca + yendo	cayendo
ER	creer -> cre + yendo	creyendo
ER	leer -> le + yendo	leyendo
IR	destruir -> destru + yendo	destruyendo
IR	huir -> hu + yendo	huyendo
IR	incluir -> inclu + yendo	incluyendo
IR	oír -> o + yendo	oyendo

IR stem-changing verbs (e->i, e->ie, o->ue) maintain the first letter of the stem change in the present participle. Some examples of these follow:

	Drop the -ir	Present Participle
e->i	decir -> dic + iendo	diciendo
e->i	medir -> mid + iendo	midiendo
e->ie	hervir -> hirv + iendo	hirviendo
e->ie	sentir -> sint + iendo	sintiendo
o->ue	dormir -> durm + iendo	durmiendo
o->ue	morir -> mur + iendo	muriendo

IR verbs with stems ending in ñ or ll do not add -iendo, but instead add -endo. This is because the letters stated already provide the sound of "i" in the pronunciation of the participle. Some examples of these follow:

	Drop the -ir	Present Participle
ll	bullir -> bull + endo	bullendo
ñ	ceñir -> ciñ + endo	ciñendo
ñ	reñir -> riñ + endo	riñendo
ñ	teñir-> tiñ + endo	tiñendo

Note also that in the ñ examples provided, they are also e->i stem-changing verbs, maintaining the first letter of the stem change.