Spanish A2.18 Listening Practice: Being In Progress
Listen to a A2 Spanish dialogue about being in progress, with audio, transcript, and grammar notes for language learning.
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Level
A2.18
Audio
Segmented audio
Transcript
25 segments
A short Spanish listening chapter with transcript.
Unit 4: add estar plus -ando/-iendo to what you already control, then say one short answer that reuses earlier Spanish instead of starting from a memorized phrase.
Read while you listen.
1. Carmen · Teacher
¡Hola a todos! Welcome back to ChickyTutor. I'm Carmen, and today we are looking at how to describe actions in progress in Spanish using estar plus -ando or -iendo.
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2. Diego · Student
Hi Carmen! So this is just like using the '-ing' form in English to talk about what's happening right now?
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3. Carmen · Teacher
Exactly, Diego! Let me introduce Álvaro and Lucía, who will demonstrate this in a short real-life dialogue. Pay close attention to how they form these verbs.
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4. Álvaro · Native Speaker 1
Lucía, ¿qué haces ahora mismo?
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5. Lucía · Native Speaker 2
Ahora mismo estoy comiendo un bocadillo en la cocina, Álvaro.
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6. Álvaro · Native Speaker 1
Vale, pero yo te estoy hablando de nuestra reunión de hoy.
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7. Lucía · Native Speaker 2
Ah, perdón, ¿qué querías decirme?
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8. Álvaro · Native Speaker 1
Pues estoy siendo sincero, creo que es mejor posponerla para mañana.
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9. Carmen · Teacher
Great listening! Now let me break down those five sentences for you.
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10. Carmen · Teacher
In the first sentence, Álvaro asks: 'Lucía, ¿qué haces ahora mismo?'. That means 'Lucía, what are you doing right now?'. Notice the time phrase 'ahora mismo'.
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11. Diego · Student
Is 'ahora mismo' different from just saying 'ahora'?
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12. Carmen · Teacher
Yes, 'ahora mismo' adds emphasis, meaning 'right now' at this exact moment.
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13. Carmen · Teacher
In the second sentence, Lucía answers: 'Ahora mismo estoy comiendo un bocadillo en la cocina, Álvaro.' That translates to 'Right now I am eating a sandwich in the kitchen, Álvaro.' Here we see 'estoy comiendo'.
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14. Diego · Student
So do all '-er' verbs take '-iendo' to express an ongoing action?
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15. Carmen · Teacher
That's right! Regular '-er' and '-ir' verbs drop their endings and add '-iendo'.
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16. Carmen · Teacher
Next, Álvaro says: 'Vale, pero yo te estoy hablando de nuestra reunión de hoy.' This means 'Okay, but I am talking to you about our meeting today.' Notice 'estoy hablando'.
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17. Diego · Student
Why does 'hablando' end in '-ando' instead of '-iendo'?
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18. Carmen · Teacher
Because 'hablar' is an '-ar' verb, so we drop '-ar' and add '-ando'.
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19. Carmen · Teacher
In the fourth sentence, Lucía responds: 'Ah, perdón, ¿qué querías decirme?', which means 'Ah, sorry, what did you want to tell me?'.
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20. Diego · Student
How does 'decirme' work at the end of that sentence?
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21. Carmen · Teacher
The pronoun 'me' attaches directly to the end of the infinitive 'decir' to mean 'to tell me'.
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22. Carmen · Teacher
Finally, Álvaro says: 'Pues estoy siendo sincero, creo que es mejor posponerla para mañana.' This means 'Well, I am being sincere, I think it's better to postpone it until tomorrow.'
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23. Diego · Student
Wait, can you combine 'estar' with 'ser' like in 'estoy siendo'?
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24. Carmen · Teacher
Yes! 'Estoy siendo sincero' means 'I am being honest right now' in this specific situation.
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25. Carmen · Teacher
That wraps up our breakdown! Keep practicing these continuous forms whenever you talk about what you are doing right now.
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