Continuous and progressive aspects

The continuous and progressive aspects (abbreviated CONT and PROG) are grammatical aspects that express incomplete action or state in progress at a specific time: they are non-habitual, imperfective aspects.

In the grammars of many languages the two terms are used interchangeably. This is the case with English: a construction such as "He is washing" may be described either as present continuous or as present progressive. However there are certain languages for which two different aspects are distinguished. In Chinese, for example, progressive aspect denotes a current action, as in "he is getting dressed", while continuous aspect denotes a current state, as in "he is wearing fine clothes".

As with other grammatical categories, the precise semantics of the aspects vary from language to language, and from grammarian to grammarian. For example, some grammars of Turkish count the -iyor form as a present tense; some as a progressive tense; and some as both a continuous (nonhabitual imperfective) and a progressive (continuous non-stative) aspect.

Continuous versus progressive

The progressive aspect expresses the dynamic quality of actions that are in progress while the continuous aspect expresses the state of the subject that is continuing the action. For instance, "Tom is reading" can express dynamic activity: "Tom is reading a book" - i.e. right now (progressive aspect), or Tom's current state: "Tom is reading for a degree" - i.e. Tom is a student (continuous aspect). The aspect can often be ambiguous; "Tom is reading Ulysses" may describe his current activity (it's in his hand), or the state of having started, but not yet finished, the book (it's in his bag).

Continuous and progressive in various languages

Unless otherwise indicated, the following languages treat continuous and progressive aspects the same, in which case the term continuous is used to refer to both.

English

Main article: Present continuous (English)

Use

See also: Uses of English verb forms § Present progressive

The continuous aspect is constructed by using a form of the copula, "to be", together with the present participle (marked with the suffix -ing). It is generally used for actions that are occurring at the time in question, and does not focus on the larger time-scale. For example, the sentence "Andrew was playing tennis when Jane called him." indicates what Andrew was doing when Jane called him, but does not indicate for how long Andrew played, nor how often he plays; for that, the simple past would suffice: "Andrew played tennis three hours every day for several years."

The perfect continuous (have been doing), as a special case, sometimes implies that the action being described was interrupted at the time in question, and does not clarify whether the action resumed. For example, "Andrew had been playing tennis when Jane called him." may sometimes suggest that Jane's calling him interrupted his tennis-playing (whereas in the former example, it was possible that he simply ignored her call), and leaves open the possibility that what she told him required such urgent action that he forfeited his match and left. But the perfect continuous need not imply interruptedness, as in "I have been running for 30 minutes, but I'll stop soon."

Salikoko Mufwene contrasts the effect of the progressive form on the meanings of action verbs versus those of lexically stative verbs:

1. [I]t converts events expected to be punctual into longer-lasting, even if transient, states of affairs [e.g., "Nancy is writing a letter"];
2. it [con]versely converts those states of affairs expected to last long (lexical statives) to shorter-lasting / transient states of affairs [e.g., "Tom is living with us"]; and
3. it simply presents those verbs whose denotations are neutral with regard to duration as in process / in (transient) duration [e.g., "The wall is cracking"], though duration is most expected of statives.

Origin

One hypothesis regarding the origin of the development of the English progressive aspect was the Old English construction that used a form of beon/wesan (to be/to become) with a present participle (-ende). Although there is some debate among scholars, it is generally thought that such a construction in Old English was not analogous to progressive aspect signaled in present-day English (a more modern development), but rather carried the meaning of a simple stative verb, where the past participle functioned as an adjective, and was predominantly used for translating the corresponding construction in Latin texts (Brinton, 1988, p. 109).

One postulated source of the English current progressive aspect is the Celtic languages that have been spoken in Britain throughout its history, which all use a (to be)+preposition+verbal noun construction to form it. See Brittonicisms in English.

Berber

In the Amazigh language, past continuous is formed by using the fixed participle ttugha (original meaning: I forgot); ttugha is added before the verb that is in the present tense. So we have:

Ntta itari : he writes / he is writing

Ntta ttugha itari : he was writing

Present continuous is usually the same as the present tense. But in the Riff variety of Berber, the participle aqqa is added before the verb to form present continuous.

Chinese

Chinese is one family of languages that makes a distinction between the continuous and progressive aspects.

Cantonese

Cantonese has a very regular system for expressing aspects via verb suffixes. 緊 is typically used to express progressive aspect while 住 is used to express continuous aspect. Take the following example:

	Cantonese(Literal English)	English Translation
Progressive	我(I) 著(wear) 緊(PROG) 衫(clothes) 。(.)	I am putting on clothes.
Continuous	我(I) 著(wear) 住(CONT) 衫(clothes) 。(.)	I am wearing clothes.

In the example, the progressive aspect expresses the fact that the subject is actively putting on clothes rather than merely wearing them as in the continuous aspect. This example is useful for showing English speakers the difference between continuous and progressive because "wearing" in English never conveys the progressive aspect (instead "putting on" must be used).

In Cantonese, the progressive marker 緊 can express the continuous aspect as well, depending on the context (so the example above could also mean "I'm wearing clothes" in addition to "I'm putting on clothes"), but in general, the progressive aspect is assumed. In order to emphasize the progressive aspect rather than the continuous, 喺度 (literally meaning "at here") can be used in front of the verb:

我(I) 喺度(at here) 著(wear) 緊(PROG) 衫(clothes) 。(.)

喺度 can also be used without 緊 to indicate the progressive aspect.

Mandarin

Unlike Cantonese, Mandarin does not have a verb suffix for expressing the progressive aspect, but it can use the pre-verbal auxiliary zhèngzài 正在 (or just 在), similar to how Cantonese uses 喺度 in front of the verb. The continuous aspect does have a verb suffix, 著/着 zhe, which is cognate with the Cantonese 住 in this context.

	Mandarin(Literal English)	English Translation
Progressive	我(I) 正在(right now) 穿(wear) 衣服(clothes) 。(.)	I am putting on clothes.
Continuous	我(I) 穿(wear) 著(CONT) 衣服(clothes) 。(.)	I am wearing clothes.

For more information see Chinese grammar: Aspects.

Danish

Danish has several ways of constructing continuous aspect.

• The first is using the form er ved + infinitive ("is at" meaning "in the process of"). For instance han er ved at bygge nyt hus ("he is at to build new house") meaning "he is building a new house". This is similar to the German form using "beim".

• Some verbs are always or default continuous, for instance verbs indicating motion, location or position, such as sidder ("sitting"), står ("standing"), ligger ("lying") or går ("walking"). This means their present tense forms are their continuous forms: Han står dér ("he stands there") means "he is standing over there", and jeg sidder ned ("I sit down"), means "I am sitting". Note this means Danish often has two different verbs when they make sense both continuous and non-continuous - at sætte (sig) ("to sit"), at sidde ("to be sitting"), at lægge (sig) ("to lay down"), at ligge ("to be lying down").

• Using these default continuous verbs together with a non-default continuous verb makes both continuous. This is a form also used in other Germanic languages such as Norwegian and Dutch. For instance: Han står og ryger ("he stands and smokes") means "he is smoking (while standing)".

• Another form is used for motions such as walking, driving or flying. When constructing perfect tense they can be constructed with either 'is' or 'has'. Where 'has' indicates a completed travel, and 'is' indicates a started journey. For instance han er gået ("he is walked") meaning "he has left (on foot)", versus jeg har fløjet meaning "I have flown (at some point in time)".

Dutch

The continuous aspect is commonly used in Dutch, though not as often as in English. There are various methods of forming a continuous:

• One form is the same as in English: zijn (to be) with the present participle, e.g., Het schip is zinkende (The ship is sinking). This form puts stress on the continuous aspect and often gives some dramatic overtone, making it not commonly used.
• The second method is the most common in Dutch. It is formed with zijn, followed by the preposition aan, and the gerund (verb used as a noun), e.g., Ik ben aan het lezen (literally I am at the reading), meaning I am reading.
• The third method is by using a verb expressing a physical position, like zitten (to sit), staan (to stand), liggen (to lie), followed by the full infinitive. Examples: Ik zit te lezen (lit. I sit to read), meaning I am reading (while sitting), Ik stond te wachten (lit. I stood to wait), meaning I was waiting (while standing), Zij ligt te slapen (lit. She lies to sleep), meaning She is sleeping (while lying down), Wij lopen te zingen (lit. We walk to sing), meaning We are singing (while walking). When translating into English or another language, the physical position generally isn't mentioned, only the action itself.
• A fourth method, also available in English, is using zijn (to be) with the adverb bezig (busy), followed by the preposition met (with), and the gerund, e.g., Ik ben bezig met lezen (lit. I am busy with reading), meaning I am (busy) reading. If there is an object, there are two forms: 1. the gerund is preceded by the neuter article het and followed by the preposition van (of) and the object, e.g. Ik ben bezig met het lezen van deze brief (lit. I am busy with the reading of this letter), meaning I am reading this letter; 2. the object comes before the full infinitive (instead of the gerund), e.g. Ik ben bezig met deze brief te lezen (lit. I am busy with this letter to read), meaning I am reading this letter. This form of the continuous is mostly used for a real (physical) activity. Grammar-wise, it is possible to say zij is bezig te denken (lit. she is busy to think, she is thinking) or hij is bezig te slapen (lit. he is busy to sleep, he is sleeping), but it sounds strange in Dutch. In these cases, other forms of the continuous are generally used, specifically the second method: Zij is aan het denken and hij is aan het slapen.
• A fifth method also involves the use of zijn (to be) with the adverb bezig (busy), this time followed by the full infinitive, e.g. Ik ben bezig te koken (lit. I am busy to cook), meaning I am cooking. If there is an object, it comes before the verb, e.g. Ik ben bezig aardappelen te koken (lit. I am busy potatoes to cook), meaning I am cooking potatoes. This form is also mainly used for real activities. Zij is bezig te denken and Hij is bezig te slapen are uncommon.
• The sixth method is a special form of the continuous. It implicitly means that the subject is away to do an activity. It uses zijn (to be), followed by the infinitive, e.g., Zij is winkelen (lit. She is shop), meaning She is (away) shopping.

French

French does not have a continuous aspect per se; events that English would describe using its continuous aspect, French would describe using a neutral aspect. That being said, French can express a continuous sense using the periphrastic construction être en train de ("to be in the middle of"); for example, English's "we were eating" might be expressed in French either as nous étions en train de manger, or as simply nous mangions.

An exception is in relating events that took place in the past: the imperfect has a continuous aspect in relation to the simple (historic) past; e.g. nous mangions quand il frappa à la porte ("we were eating when he knocked at the door"). However, the passé composé is more often used to denote past events with a neutral aspect in a non-narrative context.

It is also possible to use the present participle, e.g. Nous mangeant, il frappa à la porte, or the gerund (Gérondif).

Quebec French often expresses a continuous sense using the periphrastic construction être après (lit. "to be after"); for example, English's "we were eating" might be expressed in Quebec French either as nous étions après manger, or as simply nous mangions (imparfait).

Jèrriais

Formed exactly as in Rhinish German, Jèrriais constructs the continuous with verb êt' (be) + à (preposition) + infinitive. For example, j'têmes à mangi translates as we were eating.

German

There is no continuous aspect in standard German. The aspect can be expressed with gerade (just now, at the moment) as in er liest gerade meaning he is reading. Certain regional dialects, such as those of the Rhineland, the Ruhr Area, and Westphalia, form a continuous aspect using the verb sein (to be), the inflected preposition am or beim (at the or on the), and the neuter noun that is formed from an infinitive. For example, ich bin am Lesen, ich bin beim Lesen (literally I am on/at the reading) means I am reading. Known as the rheinische Verlaufsform (roughly Rhinish progressive form), it has become increasingly common in the casual speech of many speakers of standard German, although it is still frowned upon in formal and literary contexts. In Southern Austro-Bavarian, the aspect can be expressed using tun (to do) as an auxiliary with the infinitive of the verb as in er tut lesen for he is reading (cf. English he does read - although having a different connotation).

Hawaiian

In Hawaiian, the present tense progressive aspect form ke + verb + nei is very frequently used.

Hindi and Urdu

Hindi and Urdu have a definite progressive/continuous aspect, marked by auxiliaries, for past, present, and future. It is distinguished from the simple aspect, and is widely used in everyday speech. Like English, it is also used to denote an immediate future action. For a complete conjugation of the continuous tenses, see Hindi grammar.

Icelandic

Icelandic possesses a present continuous aspect much like that found in English. This feature is unique among the Scandinavian languages. It is formed with the copula vera (to be) + að (infinitive marker) + infinite verb. Its usage differs slightly from English, as it generally cannot be used in static contexts, for example standing or sitting, but rather to describe specific activities. The following examples illustrate this phenomenon.

Ég er að borða eplið.

I'm eating the apple.

In contrast with:

Ég stend á borðinu.

I'm standing on the table.

In the second example, the simple present tense is used as it describes a state, standing on the table. The construction ég er að standa á borðinu is incorrect in Icelandic, although technically possible to construct. In addition this method of constructing the continuous present there exists a second method akin to the one which exists in the other Scandinavian languages, where a present participle ending in -andi is used along with the copula vera. This is a way of using the present participle that be analysed as more adjectival or adverbial than verbal, as it cannot be used with transitive verbs. With certain verbs it also has a frequentative implication, as in the following example:

Ég fer gangandi í skóla.

I walk to school (regularly).

Technically the use of the present participle is often not an example of continuous aspect in Icelandic.

Italian

Italian forms a continuous aspect in much the same way as in English, using a present tense conjugation of the verb stare ("to stay") followed by the gerund of the main verb. Depending upon the ending of the main verb in the infinitive, the present participle will replace the infinitive suffix with -ando (if the verb's infinitive ends in -are) or -endo (if the infinitive ends in -ere or -ire). For example: (Io) sto leggendo ("I am reading").

Present tense

The present tense and the present continuous have distinct meanings in Italian, the latter emphasising that the action is occurring at time the speaker is speaking. For example, Sto pattinando and Io pattino ("I am skating" [now] and "I skate") carry different connotations in standard Italian. While in English, one may say, "We are reading" and "We have been reading" to two different effects, there is no expression specifically for the latter in Italian.

The present continuous is formed by using the present tense of the verb stare + the gerundio. The gerundio is an Italian verb form - participle - and conveys the main meaning of the tense. For the regular verbs, the gerundio is formed from the infinitive of the verb by taking the stem and replacing the verb suffix with the appropriate gerundio suffix: -are verbs take -ando and the -ere and -ire verbs both take -endo. The table shows the conjugations of stare in the present tense with a gerundio to exemplify the present continuous:

person	avere	essere	parlare	credere	finire	dire	opporre
io	sto avendo	sto essendo	sto parlando	sto credendo	sto finendo	sto dicendo	sto opponendo
tu	stai avendo	stai essendo	stai parlando	stai credendo	stai finendo	stai dicendo	stai opponendo
lui/lei	sta avendo	sta essendo	sta parlando	sta credendo	sta finendo	sta dicendo	sta opponendo
noi	stiamo avendo	stiamo essendo	stiamo parlando	stiamo credendo	stiamo finendo	stiamo dicendo	stiamo opponendo
voi	state avendo	state essendo	state parlando	state credendo	state finendo	state dicendo	state opponendo
loro	stanno avendo	stanno essendo	stanno parlando	stanno credendo	stanno finendo	stanno dicendo	stanno opponendo

The present continuous tense is one of the least irregular tenses in the Italian language, with a very predictable conjugation pattern even for verbs that are typically irregular, such as essere ("to be") and avere ("to have"). Note that for some of these irregular verbs, the gerund takes its stem from the 1st person singular of the indicative present tense:

infinitive	1st pers. sing. present	gerund
dire	dico	dicendo
bere	bevo	bevendo
fare	faccio	facendo

Past tense

The past progressive is considered interchangeable with the imperfect. The gerundio remains unchanged, but the conjugation of stare changes to its normal conjugation for the imperfect. For example, Sto andando ("I am going") would change to Stavo andando ("I was going") in the past progressive. In conventional Italian speaking, Stavo andando, the past progressive, is mostly interchangeable with Andavo ("I used to go" or "I went"), the imperfect.

Conjugations of the Past Progressive:

person	avere	essere	parlare	credere	finire	dire	opporre
io	stavo avendo	stavo essendo	stavo parlando	stavo credendo	stavo finendo	stavo dicendo	stavo opponendo
tu	stavi avendo	stavi essendo	stavi parlando	stavi credendo	stavi finendo	stavi dicendo	stavi opponendo
lui/lei	stava avendo	stava essendo	stava parlando	stava credendo	stava finendo	stava dicendo	stava opponendo
noi	stavamo avendo	stavamo essendo	stavamo parlando	stavamo credendo	stavamo finendo	stavamo dicendo	stavamo opponendo
voi	stavate avendo	stavate essendo	stavate parlando	stavate credendo	stavate finendo	stavate dicendo	stavate opponendo
loro	stavano avendo	stavano essendo	stavano parlando	stavano credendo	stavano finendo	stavano dicendo	stavano opponendo

Like the present progressive, the Italian past progressive is extremely regular. There are no irregular past participles, and stare follows the regular conjugation pattern for -are verbs in the imperfect.

Spanish

In Spanish, the continuous is constructed much as in English, using a conjugated form of estar (to be) plus the gerundio (gerund/gerundive/adverbial participle) of the main verb; for example, estar haciendo means to be doing (haciendo being the gerundio of hacer, to do). Unlike English, the continuous cannot be used to describe an action that has not yet begun at the time of interest; however, in the present tense, the simple present suffices for this, and in any tense, a similar effect can be achieved with the auxiliary ir a ("to go to") in its non-continuous aspect.

Like English, Spanish also has a few related constructions with similar structures and related meanings; for example, seguir haciendo means to keep doing (seguir being to continue).

Conjugations of the Present Progressive in Spanish:

person	estar	hablar	creer	terminar	decir	trabajar
yo	estoy	estoy hablando	estoy creyendo	estoy terminando	estoy diciendo	estoy trabajando
tu	estás	estás hablando	estás creyendo	estás terminando	estás diciendo	estás trabajando
usted	está	está hablando	está creyendo	está terminando	está diciendo	está trabajando
el/ella	está	está hablando	está creyendo	está terminando	está diciendo	está trabajando
nosotros	estamos	estamos hablando	estamos creyendo	estamos terminando	estamos diciendo	estamos trabajando
ustedes	están	están hablando	están creyendo	están terminando	están diciendo	están trabajando
ellos	están	están hablando	están creyendo	están terminando	están diciendo	están trabajando

Japanese

Japanese uses the same grammar form to form the progressive and the continuous aspect, specifically by using the -te iru form of a verb. Depending on the transitivity of the verb, they are interpreted as either progressive or continuous. For example:

Intransitive:

ペンが鞄に入っている。

Pen ga kaban ni haitte iru.

The pen is in the bag (continuous).

Transitive:

彼は晩ご飯を食べている。

Kare wa ban-gohan o tabeteiru.

He is eating dinner (progressive).

彼はペンを鞄に入れている。

Kare wa pen o kaban ni irete iru.

He is putting the pen in the bag (resultative). - this is usually understood to be resultative state as in "he keeps the pen in the bag" but can syntactically be interpreted as progressive, however this is highly strange and pragmatically incorrect.

Some dialects such as Chūgoku dialect and Shikoku dialect have different grammar forms for the progressive and the continuous aspect; the -toru form for the progressive and the -yoru form for the continuous. For example:

Continuous:

桜の花が散っとる。

Sakura no hana ga chittoru.

The cherry blossoms have fallen.

Progressive:

桜の花が散りよる。

Sakura no hana ga chiriyoru.

The cherry blossoms are falling.

Portuguese

In Portuguese, there are two different forms of the continuous; European Portuguese uses a conjugated form of estar (to be) plus a (to) and the infinitive of the verb; for example, for example, estar a fazer means to be doing. By contrast, Brazilian Portuguese uses the gerund, hence estar fazendo, similar to other Romance languages like Spanish and Italian.

Quechua

Quechua uses a specific suffix: -chka or -ykaa; which is directly attached before the conjugation suffixes. Although the continuous aspect in Quechua is similar to that of English, it is more used than the simple tenses and is commonly translated into them (simple present and past), because of the idea that actions are not instantaneous, but they have a specific duration (mikuni [I eat] and mikuchkani [I am eating] are both correct, but it is preferred to use mikuchkani because we do no eat in a second).

Russian

Russian verbs of motion usually have progressive and non-progressive lexical pairs ("я иду" - "я хожу" (I'm going - I go), "я лечу" - "я летаю" (I'm flying - I fly)). However, non-motion verbs in Russian do not have the progressive aspect. Instead, adverbs like "сейчас" ("(right) now") can be used to indicate that the action is progressive/continuous and not habitual.

See also

• Frequentative
• Grammatical aspect
• Imperfective aspect
• Grammar of the Breton language

External links

• What is continuous aspect?
• What is progressive aspect?
• The Present Progressives in the European Parliament Proceedings
• Resources to learn verbal aspects for Russian language