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Glite Dictionary
present progressive tense

present progressive tense

4.8
A verb form that shows an action happening now
  • noun
  • /ˈprɛzənt ˈprəʊɡrɛsɪv tɛns/
  • Specialized
translation icon : tiempo presente progresivo
  • She is reading a book right now, which is an example of the present progressive tense.

Examples

  • In English, the present progressive tense is often formed with 'am', 'is', or 'are' plus a verb ending in -ing.

  • The present progressive tense is used for actions happening now.

  • 'They are eating dinner' uses the present progressive tense to show the action is happening now.

  • Are you familiar with the present progressive tense?

  • 'They are eating dinner' uses the present progressive tense to show the action is happening now.

  • In English, the present progressive tense is often formed with 'am', 'is', or 'are' plus a verb ending in -ing.

  • The present progressive tense is used for actions happening at the moment of speaking.

Synonyms

present progressive
vspresent progressive tense
  • Specialized
3.4

A verb form showing actions happening now using am, is, or are plus -ing

is the same meaning but named with an added grammatical category word

Antonyms

past progressive tense
  • Specialized
4.0

Shows an action that was happening at a certain time in the past

Surface Forms

present progressive tense singular
present progressive tenses plural

Morphology

present + progressive + tense

The meaning is directly derivable from the constituents: 'present' = current, 'progressive' = in progress, and 'tense' = verb time/form. This standard grammatical composition is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the individual words will readily understand the MWE.

Etymology

The noun present progressive tense comes from a simple picture: 'present' means now and 'progressive' means 'in progress'. English makes this tense with am, is, are plus a verb ending in -ing, so it tells us the action is happening 'right now'.