A verbal periphrase is formed with a conjugated auxiliary verb + an infinitive, a gerund, or a participle. The auxiliary provides the tense and the person, and the non-personal form provides the main meaning. Thus, quiero comer, estoy hablando and llevo escrito do not function as simple verbs, but as a single verbal idea. The periphrase adds nuances such as intention, progress, duration, obligation or result. In Auxiliary verbs you can see how the auxiliary loses part of its original meaning when it accompanies another verbal form. The basis of these constructions are also the Verbal infinitives, the Verbal gerunds and the Verbal participles.

Ir a + infinitive presents an action as upcoming or planned. It serves for already decided plans, for a clear intention and for near-future announcements: Voy a llamar a Ana, Vamos a salir temprano, Mañana va a llover. The idea is not only future; there is also a mental preparation or a signal that the event is already on track. If someone says Voy a estudiar esta noche, they are talking about a concrete decision, not a distant prediction. In contrast with the simple future, ir a + infinitive sounds closer, more contextual and more linked to a current decision.

Intention and near future

Usage	Explanation
Planned plan	Use ir a + infinitive when the action is already thought out and sounds very close in time.
Decision made	Use ir a + infinitive to show a decision that has just been formed in the head.
Immediate prediction	Use ir a + infinitive to talk about something that seems about to happen.

Estar + gerund shows an action in progress. The focus is on the process, not on the start or the result: Estoy leyendo, Estábamos cenando, Mi hermana está trabajando. It can be placed in the present, past or future when the context marks it: A las ocho estaba durmiendo; Mañana a esta hora estaré volando. The gerund presents the action as something that occurs within a time interval. Compared to the simple present, this periphrase insists on the ongoing activity. That is why it is used a lot to describe what happens at the exact moment of speaking or at a specific moment in the past.

Action in progress across tenses

Usage	Explanation
Present in progress	Use estar + gerund for an action that is happening right now.
Past in progress	Use estar + gerund for an action that was ongoing at some past moment.
Temporal continuity	Use estar + gerund to insist that the action has not stopped.

Llevar + gerundio expresses how long a thing has been happening and is still going on: Llevo esperando media hora, Llevan viviendo aquí cinco años. The auxiliary llevar marks the accumulated duration and the gerund indicates the action in progress. The construction answers the question of how long something has been occurring, not the exact moment it started. It is used with states and activities that continue up to now. In a sentence like Llevo tres meses estudiando español, the focus is on the total amount of study time and that study is still underway.

Accumulated duration and progress

Usage	Explanation
Accumulated time	Use llevar + gerund to indicate how long an action has been going on since before.
Progress of an activity	Use llevar + gerund to highlight that an action is advancing little by little.
Persistent fun	Use llevar + gerund to show an activity sustained with a expressive tone.

Tener que + infinitivo expresses clear obligation or necessity: Tengo que pagar la factura, Tenemos que salir ya. The pressure comes from a rule, a circumstance or an external decision. Deber + infinitivo also expresses obligation, but sounds more like a recommendation, moral duty or general rule: Debes respetar el turno, Deben practicar más. Deber de + infinitivo changes value and expresses probability or conjecture: Debe de ser tarde, Deben de estar en casa. The verbal form distinguishes meaning and formation. With Verbs modales these differences are seen in other verbs that introduce obligation, possibility or the speaker’s attitude.

Obligation, need, and probability

Idea
Use tener que to express a concrete obligation or a strong need.
Use deber to give advice or a more formal obligation.
Use deber de to express probability or conjecture.

These periphrases signal a change within the action. Empezar a + infinitivo marks the beginning: Empezó a llover, Voy a empezar a cocinar. Acabar de + infinitivo indicates a recently finished action: Acabo de llegar, Acabamos de ver la película. Volver a + infinitivo expresses repetition: Volví a llamar, Volvemos a intentarlo. Dejar de + infinitivo signals interruption or cessation: Dejó de fumar, Han dejado de hacer ruido. Each places the action at a different point in the process: start, immediate end, repetition or stop.

Start, finish, repetition, and interruption

Usage	Explanation
Start of action	Use empezar a + infinitivo when an activity starts at that moment.
Recent end	Use acabar de + infinitivo for an action that finished very recently.
Unexpected repetition	Use volver a + infinitivo to say something repeats again.
Habit interruption	Use dejar de + infinitivo to indicate an action stops.

Some auxiliaries change form irregularly. Ser gives soy, eres, es, somos, sois, son. Estar gives estoy, estás, está, estamos, estáis, están. Ir gives voy, vas, va, vamos, vais, van. Tener gives tengo, tienes, tiene, tenemos, tenéis, tienen. Deber keeps the stem, but in the present takes debo, debes, debe, debemos, debéis, deben. Volver is not irregular in all of the present, but in many periphrases it uses the regular form vuelvo, vuelves, vuelve, volvemos, volvéis, vuelven. These forms are recognizable because the auxiliary is conjugated the same as in other uses and then the infinitive, gerund or participle appears.

Verb	Subject	Infinitive	Conjugation
	vosotros	estar
	vosotros	ir
	yo	ser
	ellos	tener
	vosotros	tener
	tú	ser
	tú	deber
	ellos	ser
	él	estar
	ellos	deber
	él	tener
	nosotros	volver
	yo	estar
	ellos	volver
	yo	volver
	yo	ir
	tú	estar
	tú	volver
	tú	ir
	tú	tener
	yo	tener
	ellos	estar
	vosotros	ser
	yo	deber
	vosotros	deber
	él	volver
	nosotros	ser
	nosotros	ir
	él	deber
	nosotros	estar
	él	ser
	ellos	ir
	él	ir
	nosotros	deber
	nosotros	tener
	vosotros	volver

Present indicative of auxiliaries

Subject	Infinitive	Conjugation
yo	ser	soy
tú	ser	eres
él	ser	es
nosotros	ser	somos
vosotros	ser	sois
ellos	ser	son
yo	estar	estoy
tú	estar	estás
él	estar	está
nosotros	estar	estamos
vosotros	estar	estáis
ellos	estar	están
yo	ir	voy
tú	ir	vas
él	ir	va
nosotros	ir	vamos
vosotros	ir	vais
ellos	ir	van
yo	tener	tengo
tú	tener	tienes
él	tener	tiene
nosotros	tener	tenemos
vosotros	tener	tenéis
ellos	tener	tienen
yo	deber	debo
tú	deber	debes
él	deber	debe
nosotros	deber	debemos
vosotros	deber	debéis
ellos	deber	deben
yo	volver	vuelvo
tú	volver	vuelves
él	volver	vuelve
nosotros	volver	volvemos
vosotros	volver	volvéis
ellos	volver	vuelven

Scramble

Some verbs form the gerund irregularly. Decir gives diciendo, because the stem changes to dici-. Ir gives yendo, not iendo. Poder gives pudiendo, with a vowel change in the stem. Other frequent gerunds follow the same stem-changing pattern: venir gives viniendo, morir gives muriendo, dormir gives durmiendo. The ending remains -iendo or -ando; the irregularity is in the stem. These forms appear with periphrases like está diciendo, sigue yendo or lleva pudiendo.

Contrast between periphrase and simple verb

Idea
The periphrase adds a nuance of time, aspect, or intention that the simple verb does not show as clearly.
The simple verb is usually more direct and condensed than the periphrase.
The choice depends on the nuance you want to highlight in the sentence.

A periphrase adds a nuance that a simple verb does not express with the same precision. Saldré presents a direct future; voy a salir presents intention or proximity. Leía describes a past event; estaba leyendo emphasizes the action in progress. Trabaja informs of a habitual state; lleva trabajando adds accumulated duration. Debe venir can mean obligation or probability depending on the form used; tiene que venir expresses obligation. In reading a sentence, the clue is whether the speaker wants to name only the action or also indicate process, immediacy, continuity, repetition or modality. That is why periphrases are chosen when the meaning needs more detail than the verb alone.

tener queestar porestar a punto deir a

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Se usa para indicar que algo está muy cerca de ocurrir en un tono natural y muy frecuenteSe usa de forma muy habitual para expresar obligación clara en la conversación diariaSe usa mucho en la lengua cotidiana para hablar de planes y futuro cercanoSe usa para señalar que algo está a las puertas de pasar con sabor coloquial

Common periphrases by variety and register

Region	Variant	Definition	Example
España	estar a punto de	It is used to indicate that something is very close to happening in a natural and very frequent tone.	Estoy a punto de comérmelo todo en silencio.I am about to eat it all in silence.
México	ir a	It is used a lot in everyday speech to talk about plans and near future.	Voy a traer más salsa para la fiesta del taco.I am to bring more salsa for the taco party.
Argentina	estar por	It is used to indicate that something is on the threshold of happening in a colloquial flavor.	Estoy por salir cuando el gato me robó la bufanda.I am about to go out when the cat stole my scarf.
Colombia	tener que	It is used in a very habitual way to express clear obligation in daily conversation.	Tengo que llamar al amigo que perdió el sombrero.I have to call the friend who lost the hat.

Scramble

In everyday spoken language, estar + gerund, ir a + infinitivo, tener que + infinitivo and acabar de + infinitivo appear very frequently. They are natural ways to describe what happens now, what is going to happen or what has just happened. Llevar + gerundio is also very common when talking about elapsed time. Other periphrases, such as deber de + infinitivo or certain combinations with participle, tend to sound more careful, more formal or more literary depending on the context. The choice also varies by region: some constructions are used a lot in one country and less in another. In spoken Spanish, the periphrase is usually the most direct way to express intention, development or duration without long explanations.

Subject	Infinitive	Conjugation
gerundio	ir
gerundio	decir
gerundio	poder

Present indicative of irregular gerunds

Subject	Infinitive	Conjugation
gerundio	decir	diciendo
gerundio	ir	yendo
gerundio	poder	pudiendo

Scramble