El Indefinido Progresivo

Spanish past progressive

Written by qualified Spanish expert Inma Sánchez BA
Last updated: 2022-01-03

El Indefinido Progresivo is a tense that describes actions in progress in the past.

It uses "estar" in El Indefinido followed by a gerund.

It is used for those actions in progress in the past with a beginning and an end in mind.

Yo estuve caminando durante 4 horas.I was walking for 4 hours.

See also: Spanish Past Tenses and All Spanish Tenses

 

Lessons with more detail on El Indefinido Progresivo

Forming the progressive preterite tense in Spanish with estar + present participle (El Indefinido Progresivo)
The Spanish imperfect progressive vs the Spanish preterite progressive (was +ing)
Clever stuff happening!