**In the section on the Passive, we mentioned that a few past participles are so common that you can use them as normal adjectives, avoiding the werden form. *There’s actually a slight difference between “continuous” and “progressive,” but they’re often used interchangeably and for our purposes they’re exactly the same thing. It’s more of an informal/spoken form than gerade and it used to be just a regional thing, so it will still sound wrong to some Germans, but it’s becoming fairly widespread. This is even more idiomatic (literally I’m at the reading) but it means the same thing. Use the contractions “am” (= an dem) or “beim” (= bei dem) and the gerund: Ich bin beim Lesen or Ich bin am Lesen.Ich lese gerade is a more exact way to say I’m reading than just Ich lese, which could also mean I read, I do read, etc. However, when that’s not specific enough, you have two other options: This takes some getting used to, but usually it will be clear from the context when you’re using the verb in the progressive sense. Don’t make the mistake of trying to translate them directly with the present participle Ich bin lesend for I am reading is incorrect.** Instead, you can just translate them with the equivalent non-continuous form, in this case the Präsens: Ich lese. This is why non-native English speakers often make mistakes like I am needing your help with this or I was having to take a different route.įortunately for you, these forms don’t exist in German. These are called the “continuous” or “progressive” aspects in English grammar,* and they’re difficult to learn, especially because they only work with certain verbs and in certain contexts. If you think there are too many verb forms in German, consider that Germans learning English have to deal with at least eight more:
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