Thecontinuous andprogressive aspects (abbreviatedCONT andPROG) aregrammatical aspects that express incomplete action ("to do") or state ("to be") in progress at a specific time: they are non-habitual,imperfective aspects.

In the grammars of many languages the two terms are used interchangeably. This is also the case withEnglish: a construction such as"He is washing" may be described either aspresent continuous or aspresent progressive. However, there are certain languages for which two different aspects are distinguished. InChinese, for example,progressive aspect denotes a current action, as in "he is getting dressed", whilecontinuous aspect denotes a current state, as in "he is wearing fine clothes".

As with other grammatical categories, the precise semantics of the aspects vary from language to language, and from grammarian to grammarian. For example, some grammars ofTurkish count the-iyor form as apresent tense;^[1] some as a progressive tense;^[2] and some as both a continuous (nonhabitual imperfective) and a progressive (continuous non-stative) aspect.^[3]

The progressive aspect expresses thedynamic quality of actions that are in progress while the continuous aspect expresses thestate of the subject that is continuing the action. For instance, "Tom is reading" can express dynamic activity: "Tom is reading a book" – i.e. right now (progressive aspect), or Tom's current state: "Tom is reading for a degree" – i.e. Tom is a student (continuous aspect). The aspect can often be ambiguous; "Tom is reading Ulysses" may describe his current activity (it's in his hand), or the state of having started, but not yet finished, the book (it's in his bag).

Unless otherwise indicated, the following languages treat continuous and progressive aspects the same, in which case the term continuous is used to refer to both.

The continuous aspect is constructed by using a form of thecopula, "to be", together with the presentparticiple (marked with the suffix-ing).^[6] It is generally used for actions that are occurring at the time in question, and does not focus on the larger time-scale. For example, the sentence "Andrew was playing tennis when Jane called him." indicates what Andrew was doing when Jane called him, but does not indicate for how long Andrew played, nor how often he plays; for that, the simple past would suffice: "Andrew played tennis three hours every day for several years."

Salikoko Mufwene^{[7]: pp.35–36} contrasts the effect of the progressive form on the meanings of action verbs versus those of lexically stative verbs:

1. [I]t converts events expected to be punctual into longer-lasting, even if transient, states of affairs [e.g., "Nancy is writing a letter"];
2. it [con]versely converts those states of affairs expected to last long (lexical statives) to shorter-lasting / transient states of affairs [e.g., "Tom is living with us"]; and
3. it simply presents those verbs whose denotations are neutral with regard to duration as in process / in (transient) duration [e.g., "The wall is cracking"], though duration is most expected of statives.

The progressive aspect in English likely arose from two constructions that were used fairly rarely inOld andEarly Middle English. The first used a form of beon/wesan (to be/to become) with a present participle (-ende).^[8] This construction has an analogous form in Dutch (see below).^[9] The second used beon/wesan, a preposition, and a gerund (-unge), and has been variously proposed as being influenced by similar forms inLatin andFrench^[10] orBritish Celtic, though evidence one way or another is scant.^[11] Over the course of the Middle English period, sound shifts in the language meant that the (-ende) participle ending and the (-unge) gerund ending merged into a new ending, (-ing). This change, which was complete in southern England around the late fifteenth century and spread north from there, rendered participles and gerunds indistinguishable. It is at this point that a sudden increase in the use of progressive forms is visible, though they would not take their current form until the eighteenth century.^[12][13] Linguist Herbert Schendl has concluded that "with this feature, a polygenetic origin ... seems attractive, and at least the further extension of the progressive is a language-internal development."^[14]

In theAmazigh language, past continuous is formed by using the fixed participlettugha (original meaning: I forgot);ttugha is added before the verb that is in the present tense. So we have:

Ntta itari: he writes / he is writing

Ntta ttugha itari: he was writing

Present continuous is usually the same as the present tense. But in theRiff variety of Berber, the participleaqqa is added before the verb to form present continuous.

Chinese is one family of languages that makes a distinction between the continuous and progressive aspects.

Cantonese has a very regular system for expressing aspects via verb suffixes.緊 is typically used to express progressive aspect while住 is used to express continuous aspect. Take the following example:

In the example, the progressive aspect expresses the fact that the subject is actively putting on clothes rather than merely wearing them as in the continuous aspect. This example is useful for showing English speakers the difference between continuous and progressive because "wearing" in English never conveys the progressive aspect. (Instead, "putting on" must be used).

In Cantonese, the progressive marker緊 can express the continuous aspect as well, depending on the context (so the example above could also mean "I'm wearing clothes" in addition to "I'm putting on clothes"), but in general, the progressive aspect is assumed. In order to emphasize the progressive aspect rather than the continuous,喺度 (literally meaning "at here") can be used in front of the verb:

喺度 can also be used without緊 to indicate the progressive aspect.

Unlike Cantonese,Mandarin does not have a verb suffix for expressing the progressive aspect, but it can use the pre-verbal auxiliaryzhèngzài正在 (or just在), similar to how Cantonese uses喺度 in front of the verb. The continuous aspect does have a verb suffix,著/着zhe.

For more information seeChinese grammar § Aspects.

Danish has several ways of constructing continuous aspect.

• The first is using the former ved + infinitive ("is at" meaning "in the process of"). For instancehan er ved at bygge nyt hus ("he is at to build new house") meaning "he is building a new house". This is similar to the German form using "beim".
• Some verbs are always or default continuous, for instance verbs indicating motion, location or position, such assidder ("sitting"),står ("standing"),ligger ("lying") orgår ("walking"). This means their present tense forms are their continuous forms:Han står dér ("he stands there") means "he is standing over there", andjeg sidder ned ("I sit down"), means "I am sitting". Note this means Danish often has two different forms of simple verbs when they make sense both continuous and non-continuous – English has only one such fully functional pair remaining, and it happens to share this one with Danishat lægge (sig) ("to lay") andat ligge ("to lie") – "Lay down so you can lie down".
• Using these default continuous verbs together with a non-default continuous verb makes both continuous. This is a form also used in other Germanic languages such as Norwegian and Dutch. For instance:Han står og ryger ("he stands and smokes") means "he is smoking (while standing)".
• Another form is used for motions such as walking, driving or flying. When constructing perfect tense they can be constructed with either 'is' or 'has'. Where 'has' indicates a completed travel, and 'is' indicates a started journey. For instancehan er gået ("he is walked") meaning "he has left (on foot)", versusjeg har fløjet meaning "I have flown (at some point in time)".

The continuous aspect is commonly used in Dutch, though not as often as in English. There are various methods of forming a continuous:

• One form is the same as in English:zijn (to be) with the present participle, e.g.,Het schip is zinkende (The ship is sinking). This form puts stress on the continuous aspect and often gives some dramatic overtone, making it not commonly used.
• The second method is the most common in Dutch. It is formed withzijn, followed by the preposition and definite articleaan het and the gerund (verb used as a noun), e.g.,Ik ben aan het lezen (literallyI am at the reading), meaningI am reading.
• The third method is by using a verb expressing a physical position, likezitten (to sit),staan (to stand),liggen (to lie), followed byte and the infinitive. Examples:Ik zit te lezen (lit.I sit to read), meaningI am reading (while sitting),Ik stond te wachten (lit.I stood to wait), meaningI was waiting (while standing),Zij ligt te slapen (lit.She lies to sleep), meaningShe is sleeping (while lying down),Wij lopen te zingen (lit.We walk to sing), meaningWe are singing (while walking). When translating into English or another language, the physical position generally isn't mentioned, only the action itself. In English, similar constructions exist but are uncommon and marginally more frequent only in certain dialects, e.g.I sat (there) reading,I stood (there) waiting, etc.
• A fourth method, also available in English, is usingzijn (to be) with the adverb and prepositionbezig met (busy with) and the gerund, e.g.,Ik ben bezig met lezen (lit.I am busy with reading), meaningI am (busy) reading. If there is an object, there are two forms: 1. the gerund is preceded by the neuter articlehet and followed by the prepositionvan (of) and the object, e.g.Ik ben bezig met het lezen van deze brief (lit.I am busy with the reading of this letter), meaningI am reading this letter; 2. the object comes before the full infinitive (instead of the gerund), e.g.Ik ben bezig met deze brief te lezen (lit.I am busy with this letter to read), meaningI am reading this letter. This form of the continuous is mostly used for a real (physical) activity. Grammar-wise, it is possible to sayzij is bezig te denken (lit.she is busy to think, she is thinking) orhij is bezig te slapen (lit.he is busy to sleep, he is sleeping), but it sounds strange in Dutch. In these cases, other forms of the continuous are generally used, specifically the second method:Zij is aan het denken andhij is aan het slapen.
• A fifth method also involves the use ofzijn (to be) with the adverbbezig (busy), this time followed byte and the infinitive, e.g.Ik ben bezig te koken (lit.I am busy to cook), meaningI am cooking. If there is an object, it comes before the verb, e.g.Ik ben bezig aardappelen te koken (lit.I am busy potatoes to cook), meaningI am cooking potatoes. This form is also mainly used for real activities.Zij is bezig te denken andHij is bezig te slapen are uncommon.
• The sixth method is a special form of the continuous. It implicitly means that the subject is away to do an activity. It useszijn (to be), followed by the infinitive, e.g.,Zij is winkelen (lit.She is shop), meaningShe is (away) shopping.

French does not have a continuous aspect per se; events that English would describe using its continuous aspect, French would describe using a neutral aspect. Many express what they are doing in French by just using the present tense. That being said, French can express a continuous sense using theperiphrastic constructionêtre en train de ("to be in the middle of") followed by a simple infinitive; for example, English's "we were eating" might be expressed in French either asnous étions en train de manger (literally "we were in the middle of eating"), or as simplynous mangions ("we ate").

An exception is in relating events that took place in the past: theimperfect (orimparfait) has a continuous aspect in relation to thesimple (historic) past (orpassé simple); e.g.nous mangions quand il frappa à la porte ("wewere eating when he knocked at the door"). However, thecompound past (passé composé) is more often used to denote past events with a neutral aspect in a non-narrative context.

It is also possible to use the present participle (orparticipe présent) as agerund (orgérondif) in relation to the tense of the opposed verb, e.g.Nous mangeant, il frappait à la porte, opposed here to the imperfect but the simple past is also possible, e.g.nous mangeant, il frappa à la porte. In such construction (used without any leading prepositionen), the required subject for thegerund verb takes the indirect form when it is a pronoun allowing such distinction, so the normal subjectsje/tu/il/ils are changed tomoi/toi/lui/eux, e.g.Moi mangeant... instead ofJe mangeant..., butNous mangeant...

If the subject of thegerund is the same as the opposed verb conjugated at any other tense, it is omitted in the progressive gerund, but implied by the prepositionen, e.g.en mangeant et nous discutant,il ne nous écoute pas ("while eating and while we are discussing, he doesn't listen to us"). The prepositionen may be omitted if thegerund has an implied subject and takes an object which is not a pronoun; in that case the object may be prefixed before thegerund verb (and its possessive may be omitted when it refers to that implied subject), e.g.Chemin faisant, il ne pense à rien (lit. "Path making," i.e. "While making his path", "he doesn't think about anything").

Quebec French andLouisiana French^[15] often express a continuous sense using theperiphrastic constructionêtre après (lit. "to be after") followed by a simple infinitive; for example, English's "we were eating" might be expressed either as simplynous mangions with the imperfect (imparfait) like in France, or asnous étions après manger; but in France, this could be confusively understood as a discontinuous past (lit. "we were after having eaten", i.e.nous avions mangé "we had eaten"), especially in colloquial oral speech, as if the past infinitive (more commonly used with the prepositionaprès) was changed into a simple infinitive with the omitted auxiliary.Haitian Creole offers a similar construction with the adverbap, which is descended fromaprès.

Formed exactly as in Rhenish German,Jèrriais constructs the continuous with verbêt' (be) + à (preposition) + infinitive. For example,j'têmes à mangi translates aswe were eating.

There is no continuous aspect in standardGerman. The aspect can be expressed withgerade (just now, at the moment) as iner liest gerade meaninghe is reading. Certain regional dialects, such as those of theRhineland, theRuhr Area, andWestphalia, form a continuous aspect using the verbsein (to be), the inflected prepositionam orbeim (at the oron the), and the neuter noun that is formed from an infinitive. This construction was likely borrowed fromLow German or Dutch which use the exact construction to convey the same meaning. For example,ich bin am Lesen,ich bin beim Lesen (literallyI am on/at the reading) meansI am reading. Known as therheinische Verlaufsform (roughlyRhenish progressive form), it has become increasingly common in the casual speech of many speakers around Germany through popular media and music, although it is still frowned upon in formal and literary contexts.^[16] InSouthern Austro-Bavarian, the aspect can be expressed usingtun (to do) as an auxiliary with the infinitive of the verb as iner tut lesen forhe is reading (cf. Englishhe does reading).

InHawaiian, the present tense progressive aspect formke + verb +nei is very frequently used.

Hindi-Urdu (Hindustani) has distinct constructions to convey progressive and continuous actions. Progressive actions are marked through the progressive aspect participlerahā used along with the verb root, while the continuous action is conveyed through the perfective adjectival participle which is constructed by conjugating the verb into itsperfective aspect participle and combining it with the perfective aspect participle of the verbhonā (to be), which ishuā.^[17]

Icelandic possesses a present continuous aspect much like that found in English. This feature is unique among theScandinavian languages. It is formed with the copulavera (to be) +að (infinitive marker) + infinite verb. Its usage differs slightly from English, as it generally cannot be used in static contexts, for example standing or sitting, but rather to describe specific activities. The following examples illustrate this phenomenon.

Ég er að borða eplið.

I'm eating the apple.

In contrast with:

Ég stend á borðinu.

I'm standing on the table.

In the second example, thesimple present tense is used as it describes a state,standing on the table. The construction *ég er að standa á borðinu is incorrect^{[clarification needed]} in Icelandic. In addition this method of constructing the continuous present there exists a second method akin to the one which exists in the other Scandinavian languages, where a present participle ending in-andi is used along with the copulavera. This is a way of using the present participle that is analysed as moreadjectival oradverbial thanverbal, as it cannot be used withtransitive verbs. With certain verbs it also has afrequentative implication, as in the following example:

Ég er gangandi í skóla.

I walk to school (regularly).

Technically the use of the present participle is often not an example of continuous aspect in Icelandic.

Italian forms a progressive aspect in much the same way as in Spanish, using a conjugated form of theauxiliary verbstare ("to stay") followed by thegerund of the main verb. There are only two forms of gerunds, the choice depending upon the ending of the main verb in the infinitive:-ando for verbs whose infinitive ends in-are (parlare/parlando,mangiare/mangiando) or-endo if the infinitive ends in-ere or-ire (leggere/leggendo,dormire/dormendo). Thus 'I am speaking/reading/sleeping' is expressedSto parlando/leggendo/dormendo.

The present tense and the present progressive can have distinct meanings in Italian. Both can be used for present-time actions in progress:parlo con Mario andsto parlando con Mario can both mean 'I'm speaking with Mario (this moment, right now)', but only the bare present can be used to express ongoing state, as inparlo inglese 'I speak English', i.e. to convey the information 'I am able to speak English' (regardless of what I am doing at the time of speaking). Thus the present progressive clarifies immediacy:Sto uscendo 'I'm leaving (just now; on my way out)'.

The present continuous is formed by using the present tense of the verbstare + the gerund. As in English, the gerund conveys the main meaning of the utterance:stopattinando (skating),I amskating. For the regular verbs, the gerund is formed from the infinitive of the verb by taking thestem and attaching the appropriate gerund suffix:-are verbs take-ando and the-ere and-ire verbs both take-endo. The table shows the conjugations ofstare in the present tense with a gerund to exemplify the present continuous:

person	avere	essere	parlare	credere	finire	dire	opporre
io	sto avendo	sto essendo	sto parlando	sto credendo	sto finendo	sto dicendo	sto opponendo
tu	stai avendo	stai essendo	stai parlando	stai credendo	stai finendo	stai dicendo	stai opponendo
egli/ella	sta avendo	sta essendo	sta parlando	sta credendo	sta finendo	sta dicendo	sta opponendo
noi	stiamo avendo	stiamo essendo	stiamo parlando	stiamo credendo	stiamo finendo	stiamo dicendo	stiamo opponendo
voi	state avendo	state essendo	state parlando	state credendo	state finendo	state dicendo	state opponendo
essi/esse	stanno avendo	stanno essendo	stanno parlando	stanno credendo	stanno finendo	stanno dicendo	stanno opponendo

The present continuous tense has a very predictable conjugation pattern even for verbs that are typically irregular, such asessere ("to be") andavere ("to have"). For verbs with reduced infinitives, the gerund uses the same stem as the imperfect (which sometimes corresponds to the stem of the 1st person singular indicative present).

infinitive	1st sing. present	1st sing. imperfect	gerund
dire	dico	dicevo	dicendo
bere	bevo	bevevo	bevendo
fare	faccio	facevo	facendo
porre	pongo	ponevo	ponendo

To form the past progressive,stare is conjugated in the imperfect and used with the gerund. For example, whilesto andando means "I am going",stavo andando expressesI was going. In conventional Italian speaking,stavo andando and imperfectandavo are mostly interchangeable in the progressive meaning (stavo andando/andavoin ospedale... 'I was going [i.e. on my way] to the hospital...'), whereas past habitual "I used to go", "I went (often, repeatedly)" is expressible only with the imperfectandavo.

Conjugations of the Past Progressive:

person	avere	essere	parlare	credere	finire	dire	opporre
io	stavo avendo	stavo essendo	stavo parlando	stavo credendo	stavo finendo	stavo dicendo	stavo opponendo
tu	stavi avendo	stavi essendo	stavi parlando	stavi credendo	stavi finendo	stavi dicendo	stavi opponendo
lui/lei	stava avendo	stava essendo	stava parlando	stava credendo	stava finendo	stava dicendo	stava opponendo
noi	stavamo avendo	stavamo essendo	stavamo parlando	stavamo credendo	stavamo finendo	stavamo dicendo	stavamo opponendo
voi	stavate avendo	stavate essendo	stavate parlando	stavate credendo	stavate finendo	stavate dicendo	stavate opponendo
loro	stavano avendo	stavano essendo	stavano parlando	stavano credendo	stavano finendo	stavano dicendo	stavano opponendo

Like the present progressive, the Italian past progressive is extremely regular. Forms ofstare are those common to-are verbs in the imperfect (stare/stavo,parlare/parlavo, etc.).

There is no readily available means in Italian for expressing the distinction between English "We were reading" and "We have been reading."

StandardJapanese uses the same grammar form to form the progressive and the continuous aspect, specifically by using the-te iru form of a verb. Depending on thetransitivity of the verb, they are interpreted as either progressive or continuous. For example:

Intransitive:

ペンが鞄に入っている。

Pen ga kaban nihaitte iru.

The pen is in the bag (continuous).

Transitive:

彼は晩ご飯を食べている。

Kare wa ban-gohan otabeteiru.

He is eating dinner (progressive).

彼はペンを鞄に入れている。

Kare wa pen o kaban niirete iru.

He is putting the pen in the bag (resultative). – this is usually understood to be resultative state as in "he keeps the pen in the bag" but can syntactically be interpreted as progressive, however this is highly strange and pragmatically incorrect.

Some dialects such asChūgoku dialect andShikoku dialect have different grammar forms for the progressive and the continuous aspect; the-yoru form for the progressive and the-toru form for the continuous. For example:

Continuous:

桜の花が散っとる。

Sakura no hana gachittoru.

The cherry blossoms have fallen.

Progressive:

桜の花が散りよる。

Sakura no hana gachiriyoru.

The cherry blossoms are falling.

In thePantesco dialect ofSicilian, a progressive aspect can be formed by the use ofclitics, which are formed fromunstressed versions of the dialect'spersonal pronouns.^[18][19] This structure is unique amongRomance languages.^[18][19]

		Subject Pronoun	Clitic	Verb	English Translation
sing.	1st	jè(u)	jè	manciu	'I am eating'
	2nd	tu	tu	manci	'you are eating'
	3rd (masc)	iddhu	(i)ddhu	mancia	‘he is eating’
	3rd (fem)	iddha	(i)ddha	mancia	‘she is eating’
pl.	1st	n(i)àtri	n(i)àtri	manciamu	‘we are eating’
	2nd	viàtri	viàtri	manciàti	‘you are eating’
	3rd	iddhi	(i)ddhi	màncianu	‘they are eating’

InPortuguese the continuous aspect is marked by gerund, either by a proper-ndo ending (common inBrazil and Southern and insular Portugal) ora (to) and the infinitive (gerundive infinitive – the standard form in most ofPortugal); for exampleto be doing would be eitherestar a fazer or, similar to other Romance languages,estar fazendo.

Quechua uses a specificsuffix:-chka or-ykaa; which is directly attached before the conjugation suffixes. Although the continuous aspect in Quechua is similar to that of English, it is more used than the simpletenses and is commonly translated into them (simple present and past), because of the idea that actions are not instantaneous, but they have a specific duration (mikuni [I eat] andmikuchkani [I am eating] are both correct, but it is preferred to usemikuchkani becausewe do not eat in a second).

InSlavic languages, there is a clear distinction between perfective and imperfectivegrammatical aspects in the verb stem, with the latter emphasizing that the action is, was or will be in progress (habitual or otherwise). It was in relation to these languages that the modern concept of grammatical aspect in general originally developed. The majority of verbs in Slavic languages have at least one complementary verb for both aspects – e.g. Czechkoupit (perfective; done on a single occasion) andkupovat (imperfective; done over a longer period of time) which translates as "to buy" and "be buying" respectively.

Perfective verbs are commonly formed from imperfective ones by the addition of a prefix; conversely the imperfective verb can be formed from the perfective one by modification of the stem or ending.Suppletion also plays a small role. Perfective verbs generally cannot be used with the meaning of a present tense – their present-tense forms in fact have future reference. An example of such a pair of verbs, fromPolish, is given below:

• Infinitive (anddictionary form):pisać ("to write", imperfective);napisać ("to write", perfective)
• Present/simple future tense:pisze ("writes");napisze ("will write", perfective)
• Compound future tense (imperfective only):będzie pisać ("will write, will be writing")
• Past tense:pisał ("was writing, used to write, wrote", imperfective);napisał ("wrote", perfective)

In at least the East and West Slavic languages, there is a three-way aspect differentiation for verbs of motion, with two forms of imperfective, determinate and indeterminate, and one form of perfective. The two forms of imperfective can be used in all three tenses (past, present, and future), but the perfective can only be used with past and future. The indeterminate imperfective expresseshabitual aspect (or motion in no single direction), while the determinate imperfective expressesprogressive aspect. The difference corresponds closely to that between English "I (regularly) go to school" and "I am going to school (now)". The three-way difference is given below for theRussian basic (unprefixed) verbs of motion. Whenprefixes are attached to Russian verbs of motion, they become more or less normal imperfective/perfective pairs, although the prefixes are generally attached to the indeterminate imperfective to form the prefixed imperfective and to the determinate imperfective to form the prefixed perfective. For example, prefixпри- + indeterminateходи́ть =приходи́ть; and prefixпри- + determinateидти́ =прийти (to arrive (on foot)).

InSpanish, the continuous is constructed much as in English, using a conjugated form ofestar (to be) plus thegerundio (gerund/gerundive/adverbial participle) of the main verb; for example,estar haciendo meansto be doing (haciendo being thegerundio ofhacer,to do).

Like English, Spanish also has a few related constructions with similar structures and related meanings; for example,seguir haciendo meansto keep doing (seguir beingto continue).

Conjugations of the Present Progressive in Spanish:

person	estar (to be)	hablar (to talk)	creer (to believe)	terminar (to finish)	decir (to say)	trabajar (to work)
yo	estoy	estoy hablando	estoy creyendo	estoy terminando	estoy diciendo	estoy trabajando
tú	estás	estás hablando	estás creyendo	estás terminando	estás diciendo	estás trabajando
usted	está	está hablando	está creyendo	está terminando	está diciendo	está trabajando
él/ella	está	está hablando	está creyendo	está terminando	está diciendo	está trabajando
nosotros	estamos	estamos hablando	estamos creyendo	estamos terminando	estamos diciendo	estamos trabajando
ustedes	están	están hablando	están creyendo	están terminando	están diciendo	están trabajando
ellos	están	están hablando	están creyendo	están terminando	están diciendo	están trabajando

Swedish has several ways of constructing continuous aspect.

• The first is using the formhålla på att + infinitive ("hold on" meaning "in the process of"). For instancejag håller på att skriva ett brev ("I'm writing a letter").
• Some verbs are always or default continuous, for instance verbs indicating motion, location or position, such asgå "walk",ligga "lie",sitta "sit" andstå "stay". This means their present tense forms are their continuous forms:Han ligger i min säng ("he lies in my bed") means "he is lying in my bed", andhon sitter i köket "she sits in the kitchen" means "she is sitting in the kitchen". Note this means Swedish often has two different forms to simple verbs when they make sense both continuous and non-continuous – English has only one such fully functional pair remaining, and it happens to share this one with Swedishatt lägga (sig) ("to lay") and "att ligga" (to lie) – "Lay down so you can lie down" = "Lägg dig ner så du kan ligga ner".
• Using these default continuous verbs together with a non-default continuous verb makes both continuous. This is a form also used in other Germanic languages such as Norwegian, Danish and Dutch. For instance:Han ligger och läser,han står och läser,han sitter och läser andhan går och läser, all mean "he is reading (while lying/standing/sitting/going)". Also note that these may be in the past tense:Han låg och läste,han stod och läste,han satt och läste andhan gick och läste, all mean "he was reading (while lying/standing/sitting/going)".

• Frequentative
• Grammatical aspect
• Imperfective aspect
• Grammar of the Breton language

• Matthews, Stephen and Yip, Virginia (1994).Cantonese: A Comprehensive Grammar. Routledge.ISBN 0-415-08945-X.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
• Yip, Po-Ching; Rimmington, Don (2004).Chinese: A Comprehensive Grammar. Routledge.ISBN 0-415-15032-9.

• The Present Progressives in the European Parliament Proceedings
• Resources to learn verbal aspects for Russian language