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Mi madre está lavando la falda azul.

Mi madre está lavando la falda azul.
My mother is washing the blue skirt.
From Lesson 66:Wardrobe Essentials·Spanish (Spain)

Questions & Answers about Mi madre está lavando la falda azul.

Why use está lavando instead of just lava?
Está lavando means "is washing" right now at this exact moment. It uses the verb estar (to be) plus lavando (washing). You could also say Mi madre lava la falda azul (My mother washes / is washing the blue skirt), but está lavando strongly emphasizes that she is in the middle of doing it right now.
Why do we use está for "is" here instead of es?
In Spanish, there are two verbs for "to be". When you are talking about an action happening right now (using a word ending in -ando or -iendo), you always use the verb estar, never ser.
How do we get the word lavando?
To make the Spanish equivalent of an "-ing" word, you take the infinitive (the dictionary form) of an "-ar" verb, like lavar (to wash), drop the "-ar", and add "-ando". So, lavar becomes lavando.
Why is it falda azul instead of azul falda?
In Spanish, descriptive words (adjectives) almost always come after the noun they describe. Since azul describes the skirt, it must go after falda.
Since falda is a feminine word, shouldn't azul change to match its gender?
Not all adjectives change for masculine or feminine words. Adjectives that end in a consonant, like azul, stay exactly the same for both genders. You only change them if you need to make them plural (like azules for more than one skirt).

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