Spanish gets enormous mileage out of the gerund. Beyond estar + gerundio, there is a small family of perífrasis verbales (verbal periphrases) that combine a conjugated motion or duration verb with the gerund. Each one says "the action is ongoing," but each adds its own flavour of how the action unfolds across time: gradually, cumulatively, continuously, or for a measured stretch.
These constructions have no clean English equivalent. English collapses most of them into "I am -ing," which is why they are invisible to English speakers until pointed out — and why mastering them is one of the clearest steps from intermediate to genuinely fluent Spanish.
This page covers the four most useful: ir, venir, seguir, llevar, with a brief note on andar.
ir + gerundio — gradual progress, little by little
Ir + gerundio means an action is unfolding gradually, step by step, over time. Each small instance adds to the previous one and the overall situation moves forward. The literal sense of ir (to go) survives metaphorically: the action is going along, advancing little by little.
Voy aprendiendo español poco a poco.
I'm learning Spanish little by little (gradually, step by step).
La situación va mejorando.
The situation is gradually improving.
Los niños van creciendo demasiado rápido.
The kids are growing up too fast.
Vamos preparando la cena mientras esperamos.
We'll get dinner ready bit by bit while we wait.
Notice how poco a poco, despacio, paso a paso are very natural with ir + gerundio — they reinforce the gradual sense. Estar + gerundio would point to a single moment of the action; ir + gerundio stretches that moment into a slow trajectory.
venir + gerundio — cumulative, leading up to now
Venir + gerundio describes an action that has been building up to the present moment from some point in the past. The literal sense of venir (to come) again survives: the action comes from the past toward now, accumulating along the way. It strongly implies the action is still happening and is the result of repeated or sustained effort.
Vengo diciéndote esto desde hace meses.
I've been telling you this for months.
El gobierno viene incumpliendo sus promesas.
The government has been failing to keep its promises (and still is).
Estos problemas vienen arrastrándose desde 2020.
These problems have been dragging on since 2020.
Venimos trabajando en esto durante todo el año.
We've been working on this all year long.
Venir + gerundio has a slightly formal, often slightly reproachful or insistent tone — it tends to appear in journalism, in arguments ("I've been saying this all along!"), and in formal reports. It is less common in casual chat than the others.
seguir + gerundio — still doing it, continuing
Seguir + gerundio is the cleanest of the four. It simply means "to keep on -ing" or "to still be -ing." It emphasizes continuation — the action was already happening, and it has not stopped. Seguir is by far the most frequent way to say "still" with a verb in Spanish.
Sigo viviendo en el mismo piso.
I still live in the same apartment.
¿Sigues trabajando en el banco?
Are you still working at the bank?
Después de tres horas, sigue lloviendo.
After three hours, it's still raining.
No te rindas — sigue intentándolo.
Don't give up — keep trying.
The closest English equivalent is "still," but Spanish does not have a clean single-word adverb for this — todavía and aún work in some sentences, but for verbs, seguir + gerundio is the natural choice.
Seguir + gerundio also serves as the negative answer to a question about whether something stopped: ¿Ya no fumas? — Sigo fumando, sí ("Don't you smoke anymore?" — "I still smoke, yes"). In imperative form (sigue, seguid), it's the standard way to say "keep going" or "carry on."
llevar + gerundio + duration — have been -ing for [time]
Llevar + duration + gerundio is the standard Spanish way to express "have been -ing for X time" — the English present-perfect-progressive of duration. The structure is rigid and you need it constantly: it is genuinely one of the highest-yield constructions in Spanish.
The pattern is:
llevar (conjugated) + [duration] + gerundio
Llevo dos años estudiando español.
I've been studying Spanish for two years.
¿Cuánto tiempo llevas esperando?
How long have you been waiting?
Llevamos toda la mañana buscándolo.
We've been looking for him all morning.
Lleva diez minutos hablando por teléfono.
He's been on the phone for ten minutes.
Crucial details to get right:
- Llevar is conjugated in the present for ongoing situations ("I've been -ing"), and in the imperfect (llevaba) for situations ongoing in the past ("I had been -ing").
- The duration phrase can be a number of years/months/hours, or expressions like toda la mañana, mucho tiempo, un buen rato, todo el día.
- The duration phrase normally sits between llevar and the gerund: llevo dos años estudiando, not llevo estudiando dos años (though the latter exists, it is more marked).
- For a duration without an explicit action, drop the gerund: Llevo dos años aquí (I've been here for two years).
Llevaba meses sin verla cuando me la encontré en el supermercado.
I hadn't seen her in months when I bumped into her at the supermarket.
There is a closely related negative form, llevar + duration + sin + infinitive: llevo dos años sin fumar (I haven't smoked in two years).
andar + gerundio — going around -ing (often slightly negative)
Andar + gerundio describes an action the subject is engaged in here and there, repeatedly, often without much purpose. The literal sense of andar (to walk around) survives strongly. It frequently carries a mildly disapproving or dismissive tone — "going around doing this thing."
Anda diciendo por ahí que se va a casar.
He's been going around saying he's getting married.
No andes preguntando esas cosas.
Don't go around asking those things.
Siempre anda quejándose de todo.
He's always going around complaining about everything.
Andar + gerundio is colloquial. It rarely appears in formal writing and almost never in news. Use it freely in conversation, sparingly in essays.
Comparison table
| Construction | Core meaning | Example | English |
|---|---|---|---|
| estar + gerundio | Action in progress right now | Estoy leyendo. | I'm reading. |
| ir + gerundio | Gradually, step by step | Voy mejorando. | I'm gradually getting better. |
| venir + gerundio | Has been building up to now | Vengo diciendo eso. | I've been saying that all along. |
| seguir + gerundio | Still doing it, continuing | Sigo trabajando aquí. | I still work here. |
| llevar + tiempo + gerundio | Have been -ing for [time] | Llevo dos años aprendiendo. | I've been learning for two years. |
| andar + gerundio | Going around -ing (often negative) | Anda contándolo todo. | He's going around telling everyone. |
Same pronoun rules apply
All of these constructions are built on the gerund, so the pronoun placement rules from estar + gerundio carry over exactly. Pronouns either go before the conjugated verb (ir, venir, seguir, llevar, andar) or attach to the gerund, and the gerund picks up a written accent when pronouns attach.
Sigo intentándolo. / Lo sigo intentando.
I keep trying it.
Llevo años esperándote. / Llevo años esperándote.
I've been waiting for you for years.
Voy acostumbrándome. / Me voy acostumbrando.
I'm gradually getting used to it.
Why English speakers underuse these
English collapses most of these meanings into "I am -ing" or "I have been -ing." When an English speaker thinks "I'm learning Spanish," they hit estoy aprendiendo and stop. But the more Spanish-flavoured "I'm gradually picking it up" is voy aprendiendo, and "I've been at it for two years" is llevo dos años aprendiéndolo. Each of these adds a layer of nuance that estoy aprendiendo cannot.
The fastest way to start using them is to listen for them. Spanish speakers reach for llevar + tiempo + gerundio dozens of times a day — every time anyone asks how long you've been doing anything. They reach for seguir + gerundio every time anyone mentions that something is still going on. These are not rare flourishes; they are core machinery.
Comparison with English and other Romance languages
English has nothing close to this aspectual family. The closest are circumlocutions: "to keep -ing" for seguir, "to be gradually -ing" for ir, "to have been -ing for X" for llevar, and they are clumsy by comparison.
Among Romance languages, only Portuguese and Italian share parts of the system. Portuguese has ir + gerundio, vir + gerundio, continuar a + infinitivo (matching seguir), and levar + tempo a + infinitivo (matching llevar, but with infinitive). Italian uses stare + gerundio for estar, and andare + gerundio and venire + gerundio in literary registers, but lacks the everyday llevar + tiempo construction. Catalan is closer to Spanish than either.
French has none of this — French expresses everything with the simple present plus adverbs (depuis, peu à peu, encore, toujours).
Common Mistakes
❌ Estoy aprendiendo español dos años.
Incorrect — Spanish does not use estar + gerundio for durations.
✅ Llevo dos años aprendiendo español.
I've been learning Spanish for two years.
❌ Sigo a trabajar aquí.
Incorrect — seguir + gerundio, never seguir + a + infinitive.
✅ Sigo trabajando aquí.
I still work here.
❌ Llevo estudiando español por dos años.
Incorrect — no 'por' is needed; the time expression goes right after llevar.
✅ Llevo dos años estudiando español.
I've been studying Spanish for two years.
❌ Estoy mejorando poco a poco.
Marginal — grammatically acceptable but ir + gerundio is more natural for 'gradually'.
✅ Voy mejorando poco a poco.
I'm gradually getting better.
❌ Vengo viviendo en Madrid desde 2020.
Marginal — venir + gerundio is too emphatic and formal for a simple duration; either llevo or vivo desde works better.
✅ Vivo en Madrid desde 2020. / Llevo viviendo en Madrid desde 2020.
I've been living in Madrid since 2020.
Key takeaways
- Estar + gerundio is the snapshot of now; the others add aspect on top.
- Ir + gerundio = gradually, little by little. Venir + gerundio = building up to now. Seguir + gerundio = still, continuing. Llevar + tiempo + gerundio = have been -ing for [time]. Andar + gerundio = going around -ing, often with a dismissive flavour.
- All of them follow the same pronoun-placement rules: before the conjugated verb or attached to the gerund.
- Llevar + tiempo + gerundio is the highest-yield of the family — it covers a question and answer pair English speakers need constantly ("How long have you been -ing?" "I've been -ing for X").
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- Cuándo usar el progresivo en españolA2 — When to actually use estar + gerundio in Spanish — a much narrower window than English 'I am -ing'. Action in progress right now, not general activities, not future plans.
- Pronombres con el progresivoB1 — Where to put object and reflexive pronouns with estar + gerundio — either before estar (te estoy escuchando) or attached to the gerund (estoy escuchándote). Both correct, with one tiny accent rule.
- Gerundio con verbos de movimiento y aspectualesB2 — Beyond estar, Spanish pairs the gerund with ir, venir, seguir, llevar, and andar to colour an action with aspect — gradual progress, accumulation from the past, continuation, ongoing duration, or scattered recurrence.
- Llevar + tiempo + gerundio: duraciónA2 — The natural peninsular way to say how long you've been doing something — llevo dos años estudiando español — built from llevar + time + gerundio.
- Ir + gerundio: acción gradualB1 — The peninsular construction for incremental, step-by-step progress — voy aprendiendo, vamos mejorando — that marks change happening little by little.