Spanish Aspectual Phrases: Estar a Punto de, Seguir, and Llevar Sin

In this lesson, you will describe three different stages of an activity: being about to begin, continuing, and spending a period without an activity occurring. Keep the required infinitive, gerund, or preposition with each structure instead of forcing them into one common template.

Estar a punto de + infinitive: about to begin

— I am about to leave.
— The meeting is about to begin.
— We were about to call when Marta arrived.

The action has not started yet, but the speaker presents it as very close to starting.

Conjugate estar for the reference time

Present:

— The train is about to leave.

Past:

— The train was about to leave when we arrived.

Seguir + gerund: continue doing

— I am still working on the report.
— We are still waiting for a reply.
— The team continued looking for a solution.

The activity is presented as continuing beyond an earlier point.

Do not use an infinitive after seguir in this target pattern

Target:

— It is still raining.

Keep the gerund after in the continuation pattern.

Seguir sin + infinitive: continued non-occurrence

— I still have not received a reply.
— We still do not know the cause.
— The system still is not working.

This means the non-occurrence or absence continues up to the reference point.

Llevar + duration + sin + infinitive: duration of non-occurrence

— I have gone two days without sleeping well.
— We have gone one week without receiving news.
— The machine has been out of operation for three hours.

adds an explicit duration.

Compare seguir sin and llevar sin

Continued absence, duration not stated:

— We still have not received any news.

Explicit duration:

— We have gone one week without receiving news.

Compare with simple non-occurrence

Simple statement:

— I have not started the report.

Continued non-occurrence:

— I still have not started the report.

The second explicitly presents the situation as continuing.

Stage of activity

About to start:

— I am about to start the report.

Continuing:

— I am still writing the report.

Extended non-occurrence:

— I have gone three days without working on the report.

These describe different stages and should not be treated as interchangeable.

Use time and duration accurately

If the period is not known, do not invent one merely to use .

Known:

— I have gone four months without traveling.

Duration unknown:

— I still am not traveling for work.

Short conversation

Person A: ¿Has — Have you finished the report?

Person B: — No. I am still working on the last section.

Person A: — And the client's data?

Person B: — We still have not received them. We have gone two days without a reply.

A practical aspectual-stage method

Ask which stage of the activity you need to express.
Use + infinitive for imminent beginning.
Use + gerund for continuation of an activity.
Use + infinitive for continued non-occurrence.
Use + duration + sin + infinitive when the length of non-occurrence is explicit.
Keep the required gerund, infinitive, and preposition with each structure.
Do not invent a duration merely to use .

From Aspectual Stages to Explaining an Activity Over Time

You can now identify whether an activity is about to begin, continuing, or has failed to occur for a stated period. The next lesson is Explaining How an Activity Started, Continued, or Stopped in Spanish.