KS3 · Spanish · Year 8
Films and cinema: present continuous with -er and -ir verbs
What is happening now: present continuous, 'este' and 'esta'
Learn it. Recall it. Make it stick.
IllumED Slides
IllumED · 1/11
Your learning goal
I can use the present continuous to describe what we are doing now or 'querer' + infinitive to say what we want to do.
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Films and cinema: present continuous with -er and -ir verbs: slides adapted from the imported teaching text; recall questions created from its keywords, learning points and common mistakes. Self-check practice, with no automatic grading or XP. Answers stay on this page and are cleared when you leave.
Original teaching resources
The original illustrated PowerPoint is available as well as the IllumED text slides. It retains the publisher’s design and credits.
Download original PowerPoint ↓What you’ll learn
I can use the present continuous to describe what we are doing now or 'querer' + infinitive to say what we want to do.
Key learning points
- To say what is happening right now, Spanish uses the present continuous, which is 'estar' + present participle.
- For -er and -ir verbs the present participle is formed by removing -er/-ir from the verb infinitive and adding -iendo.
- The verb 'querer' is a modal verb and means 'to want' or 'to love'. To say 'we want', we use 'queremos'.
- 'Querer' is commonly used before an infinitive to mean 'to want to', e.g. 'queremos conducir' - 'we want to drive.
- In the present continuous, 'estar' cannot be followed by an infinitive. It is always followed by a present participle.
Words to know
- modal verb
- verb of necessity or possibility used with a 2nd verb in the infinitive, e.g. 'must', 'can', 'want'
- querer
- Spanish modal verb meaning 'to want' or 'to love'
- present continuous
- describes events happening right now, e.g. 'I am doing'
- estar
- Spanish verb meaning 'to be', also the auxiliary verb for the present continuous
Common mistakes
Just like modal verbs, 'estar' is followed by an infinitive to form the present continuous to express what is happening right now.
To form the present continuous, use a present tense form of 'estar' together with a present participle. To form this for -ar verbs, remove -ar from the infinitive and add -ando to the stem. For -er and -ir verbs, add -iendo to the verb stem.
For parents, carers and teachers
- To practise 'estar' followed by a present participle and not an infinitive, a call-and-response plenary could work well - the teacher starts a phrase with either a form of 'querer' or 'estar' and pupils complete the phrase with an infinitive or a present participle.