While Luis' answer is correct, let me put it make it more simple. If you think of a simple tense in Enlgish and make it into continuos, two changes are present: He plays the piano He is playing the piano The first you notice is that the verb "to be" is added right after the person. The sencond thing is changed into the "gerund" form. Both changes are exactly the same that happen to a simple tense in Spanish to become continuos. Namely: Èl toca el piano Él está tocando el piano. Same as in English, the verb "estar" is used (take noteof the conjugation of the verb depending on the person). And the verb "tocar" changes to its "gerund" form ("ando" and "endo" in Spanish) (this form is the same regardless the person, because it is not a conjugation but a form of every verb to be used after the verb "estar"). I hope this helps. Cheers, Mario