This exam tips covers Common Mistakes within Present tense + periphrastic future (ir a + inf) + present continuous for GCSE Spanish. Revise Present tense + periphrastic future (ir a + inf) + present continuous in Time Frames for GCSE Spanish with 13 exam-style questions and 15 flashcards. Use this page as part of a wider topic revision path rather than treating it as an isolated fact. It is section 3 of 4 in this topic. Treat this as a marking guide for what examiners are looking for, not just a fact list.
⚠️ Common Mistakes
These errors appear regularly in GCSE Spanish exams and cost students marks in both accuracy and communication categories.
❌ Error 1: Estoy yendo a casa.
✅ Correcto: Voy a casa. o Estoy de camino a casa.
Why it costs marks: In English we say "I am going to the house" using the continuous form, but in Spanish, motion verbs like ir are rarely used in the continuous (estar + yendo). It sounds unnatural to a native speaker and signals that you have translated word-for-word from English. Use the simple present voy instead — it covers the same meaning and sounds correct.
❌ Error 2: Estando comiendo en el restaurante.
✅ Correcto: Estoy comiendo en el restaurante.
Why it costs marks: Estar must be conjugated to form the present continuous — it cannot itself become a gerundio. The structure is always estar (conjugated) + gerundio. Using estando here produces a non-sentence (it becomes a dangling participle) and loses marks under both grammar accuracy and message clarity.